The Revisionist
by fourthfireshadow
Summary: To fix a broken history is a lot harder than Hermione Granger initially thought. Add in power, pure-blooded bigots, a rat, prophecies and a whole new life, it was almost too much to handle. And then there's Sirius... SB/HG, LE/JP
1. Of a Flash and a Past

**Disclaimer**-I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or any of the things from _that_ world. I simply own the plot.

**Pairings-** Hermione Granger/Sirius Black, Lily Evans/James Potter

**Rating-** T

**Note-** this is my first ever Harry Potter fanfic. I'm doing this with my favorite fictional pairing, i.e, HG/SB. The scene of the room of requirements was completely taken from the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2, since I haven't read the book yet. If there is anything wrong written, please correct me so that I won't make the same mistake again. I know the time-turner thing is kinda cliché, but you just can't make a classic time-travelling story without it!

Some of the tips I used for time-travelling is from other fan fictions, such as _Flying High_ by _ . _. Another reference I used I'd is _The Thief of Time_ by _Tinkwolfe_. I love both these stories a lot as these were the first SB/HG time fan fictions I'd read.

_Enjoy!_

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Prologue:_ Of a Flash and a Past_

By

**fourthfireshadow**

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"Stupefy!"

"_Avada Kedavra!"_

"Expelliarmus!"

Anticipation. Trepidation. Desperation. Determination.

These were some of the few emotions Hermione Granger had become accustomed with in the past few years. After all, when one is friends with the bloody _Boy-Who-Lived_, it's pretty obvious one would be. And for the past seven years, these emotions have always been running high. It's almost a comfort now, the one thing that's constant, never changing. She never complained. She never could. She didn't want to anyway.

Adrenaline was running high after the short duel with Malfoy and his two lackeys—Zabini and Goyle. And now Ron had run off to God knows where trying to defend her honor. It would've been sweet in a way, if they weren't in the middle of a _bloody war_. Barely resisting rolling her eyes, she followed the boy she'd been following for almost a decade as he rushed to one of the hugest piles of junk in the room.

The room of hidden things was vast and seemingly endless. The ceiling was high and there were tall glass stained windows that were partly hidden from view due to all the objects. Stacks and stacks of stools and tables and a whole pile of antiques and objects were piled up on each other, making it a very messy and cluttered room. And now, this was the room where the fifth Horcrux was currently residing in. it truly was foolish for the _Great Dark Lord_ to hide a piece of his wretched soul in this room, believing that no other person would ever find it. Bit stupid, that.

But when she saw Harry climbing up the stools and chairs and digging his way up to the top of a particular pile, she wasted no time in helping him get the things out of the way. Most of the objects were useless things older students had kept and forgotten of. Some were weird looking artifacts that Hermione had never seen before and a part of her—the part that yearned for knowledge and information of any kind—was a bit disgruntled at the blatant disregard to these objects, but she knew now wasn't the time to be thinking of all these things. They were _so_ close to finding another Horcrux. Another part of Voldemort to be rid of.

She was tired. She acknowledged it, it would've been pretty idiotic not to. She was tired of the whole bloody war, of the deaths of innocents, of the prejudices of blood purity, of the whole thing really. She could hear the sounds of the spells being cast outside and she could distinctly hear someone screaming morbidly, probably under a Cruciatus curse.

It disturbed her slightly that she didn't as much as flinch even when she knew someone was being tortured just outside. She felt pity and concern, sure, since she had gone through the same torture in the Malfoy Manor earlier, under the mercy of Bellatrix. No, it only made her thirst for revenge and justice grow.

Hermione looked up suddenly when she heard Harry let out a grunt of frustration as he knocked down a few things from above. On instinct, she raised her hands to shield her face from the onslaught of objects when a small object fell straight into her hands.

Curiously, she brought the object closer for inspection. When she finally recognized the small object, she let out a gasp as her brown eyes widened a bit. _Sweet Merlin..._

It was a Time-Turner.

_Why would someone keep a time-turner in this room?_ She couldn't help but wonder. This was an extreme rarity now, as all the Time-Turners in the time room in the Ministry of Magic were destroyed in the battle of the Department of Mysteries.

But upon a closer look, she realized that it wasn't the usual brand of a Time-Turner. The pendant was a glimmering gold, with intricate detailing of vines on the sides. But what caught Hermione's attention was the sand inside the hourglass, for it wasn't the usual sands of time in there, but rather it looked like tiny microscopic crystals. Glowing crystals. They were emitting a soft light of blue, casting dark shadows on Hermione's face. That was a big give-away that this wasn't just a normal Time-Turner. She rolled the pendant on her hand, watching fascinatedly as the crystals continued glowing.

Then she noticed the inscription on the gold.

_Time will come, time will go  
Time shall reap, that time has sown  
Time comes slowly, time goes fast  
Time will linger, time outlasts_

"Hermione! I've got it!"

She was snapped out of her daze and quickly slipped the chain around her neck and tucked the pendant under her shirt—now stiff and crusty with sweat and grime— as Harry jumped down from the pile with something silver clutched In his hand. The cursed Ravenclaw'sdiadem. She let out a sigh of relief and nearly grinned at the relief on Harry's face. That was one more Horcrux taken off from the list.

They both snapped their attention to the front as they saw their other best friend running towards them yelling like a mad man with no intention of stopping. But that wasn't what caught their attention. It was the burning glow behind him. Almost like—

"Run! Goyle's set the bloody place on fire!"

And that was all they needed to run and find some cover so they wouldn't be burned to death. Hermione knew what this was, _Fiendfyre_. An extremely powerful but an equally dangerous spell. The caster should have exceeding control over the spell to fully master it, and those who do master it were few and far in between. And somehow, she didn't think Goyle was included in the few and far.

_At this rate, the whole room will be burnt down!_ Hermione thought to herself in fear as she ran as fast as she could, twisting into whatever paths she could find, pelting between the piles of things. She knew Harry was trying to delay the fire, but it didn't seem to be working.

Finally, all three of them ducked into a small corner and Harry casted a powerful _protego_ that gave them a few seconds. Panting from all the adrenaline and exhaustion, she snatched the broom Harry threw at her without any complaint. If she had to ride a broom to get out of this situation, then so be it.

Quickly mounting the brooms, they took off in haste. Hermione was clutching the handle of the broom tightly with clenched hands and concentrated solely on not falling. Because of that, she didn't notice the curse sent by Goyle coming her way.

"Hermione, look out!" Harry's panicked voice reached her too late.

"_Avada Kedavra!" _Goyle screamed as a last ditch effort.

Brown eyes widened in surprise and fear as the curse slammed forcefully into her chest. She didn't have the time to even gasp as she fell off the broom and into the darkness down. The sensation of falling was mind-numbing and terrifying for Hermione. She was pretty sure she screamed as she felt the wind whipping through her hair, stinging her face and causing her eyes to water. "No!" she gasped as she lost her hold on her precious wand. Her one chance, now gone.

She hated the feeling of not having anything to hold on to. But then she noticed something she had previously missed. It wasn't dark anymore, but there were flashes of colors and light all around her. It was like she was in a vortex of light. She could make out brief flashes of the people she knew around her, almost like memories…then she saw a sudden bright blue light glowing around her, the air whizzing lightly with a crystal-like glittering particles and before she could stare at her flashing surroundings, blackness creeped into her conscience.

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_1976—Cokeworth, England_

Today was a good day, Lily Evans decided smiling brightly. The sun was shining; the streets were mostly empty, save for the few children running about and playing. Petunia was off to meet her hideous boyfriend, Vernon, thus staying out of her hair for at least a few hours, and that bloody _toe-rag_ James Potter and his band of hooligans were to be nowhere around her, at least for another two months or so. She almost dreads the day to go back to Hogwarts solely because of them. But she just couldn't be too disappointed; she was finally going to start her sixth year! _But if he tries to ruin this year too…_

_No,_ she thought to herself resolutely, _I am not going to allow that imbecile to ruin this perfect day!_

Cheering up a bit at the thought, she walked on slowly, humming a song from the famous muggle band, the Sex Pistols, when suddenly bright blue light glowed brightly for a few seconds and vanished completely a few spaces away from where Lily was standing right now. And she knew the only thing that would glow like that in the middle of nowhere.

_Magic._

She ran as fast as she could, her red tresses flowing behind her as she tried to repress the panic and paranoia brewing in her mind. She knew she ought to be careful, these were dark times after all, and these days it was never safe for muggle-borns such as herself. But she just didn't even think of stopping or taking any form of caution right now. If anyone even saw that mysterious burst of light, she didn't even want to think of the consequences.

Harshly taking a turn to another cobblestone road, she slowed her pace as she walked towards the source and she couldn't hold in her gasp, or her expression of panic and slight horror.

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_Everything hurts._

_Why does everything hurt?_

_Am I dead?_

She remembered the curse hitting her chest, so the most logical assumption would be that she was dead. But then, if she was dead, why could she even have a thought process like the one she was having right now in her pain-induced state?

So that brought her to her second conclusion—she was a ghost. But if she truly were a ghost or a spirit, then why was she feeling so bloody weak and in so much pain? She didn't think ghosts could actually feel anything. So that ruled out that theory.

_So then, I'm alive…_

_But how?_ She clearly remembered the green light from that bloody death eater hitting her chest before he fell into the Fiendfyre himself. She felt the curse slamming onto her chest, the horrible dark feeling it brought along with it, and the panic and the fear. She remembered falling of the broomstick, but then after that, it was blackness. So, even if she hadn't died from the death curse, then she should have died from the fall. There was no way she could have survived a fall from a height like that.

Then she remembered the light, the flashes…there was something peculiarly familiar about the whole strange ordeal, but she couldn't quite remember right now…

Quiet voices coming from somewhere broke her concentration and she tried to lift her heavy eyelids open blinking slowly a few times, she waited for her vision to clear. When it did, she didn't know what to think. Her eyes widened and she expelled a breath.

The room she was in was modest. The light from outside shone in through the small window on one wall, with navy blue with silver drapes. There was a fan on the ceiling and there were some glow-in-the -dark-stickers of stars stuck on. She tilted her head a fraction to look at the rest of the room.

The walls also had a thin wallpaper border around the top and bottom of the walls, and if she looked closely, she could see the pattern of lilies and roses. A huge circular silver fuzzy rug was placed on the hardwood floors and the left wall of the room looked to be a built-in wardrobe and dresser. There was a large bookshelf right next to the dresser filled to the brim with books, all looking organized. Hermione knew that if she was in a better state then she was right now, she would've loved to look through them.

_Where the bloody hell was she?_

She closed her eyes tightly as she fought the wave of nausea. Now, she had absolutely no clue where she was at all, because this seemed like a normal bedroom, or she didn't know if it was for better or for worse, a muggle's bedroom. Most probably a girl. How did she end up in this situation? A few minutes ago—or hours, she didn't know how long she was unconscious for—she was in the room of requirement with Harry and Ron, trying to escape with their lives.

At the thought of their names, another bout of panic and anxiety settled in mixed with fear. Where were they? Were they okay? Did they get out safely? Or where they also hit with the killing curse—no. She didn't-couldn't…wouldn't believe that. They were brilliant flyers. They would've gotten out alive. That, she was sure of.

She forcefully pushed all thoughts of her now-missing best friends and resolved to find them soon, when she felt a shock of pain as she moved a little. She sighed in frustration and pain. She didn't know the extent of her injuries, but if the pain in her chest was an indicator, she must be having some broken or bruised ribs. She didn't even want to think about her other wounds.

She searched for her wand as carefully as she could without jostling her body much. She fiercely hoped that her wand hadn't been confiscated from her, but soon found out that that was indeed the case. She couldn't find it on her person anywhere. She lifted her hands, as much as she could and searched her jacket pocket, and her wand holster, and she refused to give up until she found it but she soon had to give in. She didn't have her wand with her anymore.

Then she remembered her losing the wand in the torrent that was around her, forever gone.

Closing her eyes tightly to keep the tears of frustration at bay, she pushed herself up on the bed as much as she could with her weak arms. She was alone, with no idea where she is and she didn't have her wand—the closest thing to comfort she could get—with her. She had never been in this situation before, and she was too overwhelmed to use the brain she was famous for.

How was she going to defend herself? How will she get back to Harry and Ron? She was helpless right now. If only she could—

"Oh! You're awake! Thank goodness, I was getting rather worried. You should've seen the state I found you in. it was gruesome. You were unconscious and bleeding for about three hours, but thankfully I was able to heal some of the major one's and—sorry. I'm rambling. I tend to do that a lot. But I really am glad you're awake." A girl spoke as she saw that Hermione was awake. "Did you know you were in a horrendous state when I found you?"

The tall girl bustled into the room, interrupting her depressing thoughts. Hermione peered closely at the girl with wide eyes. She was _really _beautiful. She had flaming red hair—not the orangish-red the Weasley's have—but a deep true blood red, till mid-back. Her red hair framed her pale face, which had an expression of concern and worry. But that wasn't what stunned Hermione into speechlessness. It was the eyes, those familiar _familiar expressive _emerald green eyes that were filled with concern for her— eyes that used to be filled with emptiness or longing or sometimes happiness but mostly haunted; eyes that had become a trademark of sorts. But this wasn't Harry, of course it wasn't. So then why—

Hermione's face become increasingly pale as her breathing labored and her eyes widened again when she formed a conclusion. She was now pretty sure this girl wasn't a muggle at all. Or not even an ordinary witch. No. this was far _far_ worse.

But the next few words did it in for her.

"Anyway, I'm Lily Evans. And you are?"

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**End notes-** in most of the time travelling fics I've read, Hermione always ends up either with the Potters or with Sirius, or directly at Hogwarts. I've not read one so far where Hermione is found by Lily Evans first. so, I've decided this would be the way to go for my story. the only one I've read where she's with Lily is The Thief of Time, but in that, their sisters, so it's not _quite_ the same i think.

Hope this chapter was good. Please drop a comment or favorite or follow the story, so that I'll know _someone_ is reading this. Thank you!


	2. Of Introductions and Decisions

**Disclaimer**-I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or any of the things from _that_ world. I simply own the plot.

**Pairings-** Hermione Granger/Sirius Black, Lily Evans/James Potter

**Rating-** T

**Note-** this is my first ever Harry Potter fanfic. I'm doing this with my favorite fictional pairing, i.e, HG/SB. The scene of the room of requirements was completely taken from the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2, since I haven't read the book yet. If there is anything wrong written, please correct me so that I won't make the same mistake again. I know the time-turner thing is kinda cliché, but you just can't make a classic time-travelling story without it!

Some of the tips I used for time-travelling is from other fan fictions, such as _Flying High_ by _ . _. Another reference I used I'd is _The Thief of Time_ by _Tinkwolfe_. I love both these stories a lot as these were the first SB/HG time fan fictions I'd read.

**Extra note-** so, I know Hermione telling everything to Dumbledore may be a bit of a cliché, but honestly, I think that's what she'd do. Dumbledore is a person who looks out for the greater good, and if he has a way to achieve it, I think he'd take it. And while he may be manipulative to a fault, J. said so herself that Dumbledore is a man of extreme good. So I'm going with it. This chapter isn't that interesting, it just basically her decisions. Next will be Diagon Alley and Hogwarts, so I'm more excited for that. I still have a problem in deciding whether Hermione should meet the marauders in Diagon alley or in Hogwarts?

**Extra extra note-** i know hermione's transported back in time from the time in the room of hidden things, but the art of Snape's death is over before that scene in this fic. that's why she knows about Snape's true allegiance.

**Thanks to-**A101, **Accio-Mumford**, Caitlinlaurie, Miss. Silver Star, **Persephone Targaryen**, QueenGuin, RedReaper118,**SAKURAxLOVExHERMIONE**, **X-Random-X**, aj90, aminadawn, bookinspired, floatsodelicately, kk1999, leeeila, poth 96, quattrecskids—_for the Follows/Alerts_

**Thanks to-Accio-Mumford**, **Ashies**, .it, **SAKURAxLOVExHERMIONE**, **X-Random-X—**_for the favorites_

**Thanks to-**Rose, **SAKURAxLOVExHERMIONE, ****Persephone Targaryen, Ashies, **Black Mirror, Visitor, goodintentions, teddyhuglove—_for the reviews_

_This chapter is dedicated to _**SAKURAxLOVExHERMIONE **_for favoriting/following/reviewing my story! Thank you, you're awesome!_

_Enjoy!_

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**The Revisionist**

Chapter 1:_ Of Introductions and Decisions_

By

**fourthfireshadow**

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Hermione's mind went blank for a split second, before it went into overdrive.

So, it_ is _Lily Evans. But that didn't make sense to her. At all. If she wasn't dead, then how come Lily Evans was standing before her? It just wasn't possible. The only way this could be at least a tiny bit probable was if she had used a time turn—_oh! Oh…no._

Her eyes widened once more as she stared owlishly at the distance, her mouth still agape.

The Time-Turner! But…normal Time-Turners could only take the user a few hours or at the maximum, a day back in time, but that in itself was a rarity. But if her suspicions and her gut instinct were correct, and they usually are, then she had gone back not for just mere hours, but for years! And if Lily Evans was alive currently, looking like she was her own age, then she must be in the Marauder's Era, at least twenty years in the past!

_This was not good. Not _good _at all. This couldn't have happened! _She thought to herself frantically. It was at that time she noticed the stings on her chest. She lifted her hand up to inspect the wound when she saw many tiny cuts in that area, as if glass…had…

_The killing curse! It had hit my chest, but it must've activated the Time-Turner instead!_

Had she done the impossible? Had she done what was thought to be improbable? Had she travelled years back in time?

She was broken out of her reverie when she managed to catch the last bit of Lily's sentence.

"—re you alright? Do you want some water or something?" Lily's worried face and green eyes appeared in her vision once more. Hermione opened her mouth to try to speak but she found her mouth was as dry as sand paper. Taking this as a cue, Lily took the glass of water she had brought with her and lifted it to Hermione's mouth. Not bothering to object, she greedily drank the sweet, cool water until she finished the whole glass. Now feeling a bit better, she let out a weary sigh.

Lily was fidgeting there quietly, not sure what to do in this type of situation. Here she was, with a strange witch, horrendously injured, on her bed, not speaking or giving any reaction. And Lily didn't even know if this witch was a dangerous one or not. One can never be too cautious these days. Also, she was getting a bit unnerved by her intense stare, as if she was trying to look through her.

So she decided to try again.

"…Can you at least tell me your name?" she asked a bit hesitantly.

Hermione blinked out of her stupor of seeing her best friend's mother alive for one second. Surely giving her name wouldn't be too dangerous, would it? She hated not knowing. She hated not having any control over this…situation. She swallowed thickly before speaking.

"H-Hermione." She rasped. She decided on disclosing her first name only. At least until she could make sense of this whole other-worldly situation. Lily smiled slightly when she got something at last. It was a start.

Just as Lily had opened her mouth to ask something, another lady entered the room with concern and relief etched on her face. She looked to be about in her late thirties or in her early forties, but she was still beautiful, in a homey conventional way. She was dressed in khaki pants and a blue T-shirt. She had straight dirty blonde hair till her waist with a slight curl on the end, and she had beautiful green eyes. Harry's eyes…Lily's eyes. She also had Harry's smile, or rather, Harry had her smile. This must be Lily's mother, Hermione deduced in slight trepidation.

"Oh, thank God you're awake, dearie. I daresay you gave me quite a scare when Lily brought you here. But I'm glad you've woken up! Can I know your name?" she inquired. She had deep laugh lines around her eyes, Hermione noticed, but it still did nothing to take away the youth from her face.

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Lily spoke for her. "Her name's Hermione, mum."

Mrs. Evans smiled. "Hermione, from Shakespeare That's lovely."

Hermione nodded slowly, but couldn't seem to form any responses just yet. Her head just couldn't seem to wrap around this…problem. This was a…surreal situation. She was talking to Harry's grandmother. The one he never knew. What was she to do now? What kind of a _blasted time-turner_ was that? She had to find out if she ever wanted to… Before she could overanalyze and overthink like she usually does, Mrs. Evans spoke again.

"Now, usually with wounds as severe as the ones you had, we would've taken you to a hospital to get them treated, but seeing as how you are a witch like my daughter here," at this, Lily shifted awkwardly, as if she was nervous, "we didn't know if you'd have been comfortable in—what do you magic folk call it? Ah yes, having a muggle treat you." Mrs. Evans had said all this kindly with a smile, but Hermione noticed the slight hardness that appeared in Lily's green eyes when she said 'muggle'.

Hermione understood why the hardness appeared. She knew all too well about the prejudice and discrimination between witches and wizards because of their blood, and she knew the prejudice was at an all-time high in the past too. After all, she had lived through it herself. So she found herself replying in a quiet voice, "I appreciate the thought, but I would rather not go to a hospital. They would ask all sorts of questions that I don't have the liberty to answer, concerning my injuries." Her voice had trembled slightly as she spoke, but she thought she had held herself well, considering she was now talking to people who were long since dead in her time.

All at once, Mrs. Evans objected loudly," but I insist we take you, dear. Your injuries may get affected if not treated properly! I know Lily has healed some of your major wounds but—"

"Mum," Lily interjected looking at Hermione thoughtfully, "may I speak to Hermione alone for a moment? Please?"

Hermione glanced at Lily. The hardness had not completely gone from her eyes, and she didn't exactly blame her, but now Lily looked more curious than anything. Hermione knew she had some questions she wanted answered, but she didn't know what to tell her. She can't exactly say '_Hey! I'm from twenty years in the future where I'm best friends with your unborn son, trying to kill old Voldie!'_

She'd probably be admitted in .

Mrs. Evans paused mid-stride. "Sure, dear. Just call if you need anything, okay?" she smiled weakly once more at Hermione, touched Lily's cheek and went out of the room quietly, closing the door behind her.

Hermione's nerves began to appear again. She was in a room with Harry's _mother_, alone. Although, Hermione mused, Lily wasn't a mother yet. Not even close. But this was still a bizarre situation for her to land up in. She kept quiet and looked down at the maroon blanket over her legs, waiting for the other girl to speak first.

"...I'm sorry I couldn't heal all of your wounds, but I don't have an extensive knowledge in healing magic." Lily said apologetically after a few seconds.

This stunned Hermione a bit. This girl, who had undoubtedly saved her from a slow painful death, or something of the sort, was apologizing to her for not being of more help. She couldn't help but look at Lily in astonishment for a second. _She…really is as kind as they had said…._

She didn't hold back the slight quirk of her lips. She took a deep breath and looked into those familiar green eyes before she spoke, "You have no need to apologize, you know. I should be the one to thank you for all that you've done for me already. So…Thank you." She cringed inwardly at her awkwardness.

Then Hermione remembered she didn't even know the date. She needed to know how far she had travelled to the past. "Er, can you…tell me today's date?"

Lily looked at her oddly, _probably wondering if I had hit my head_, Hermione thought wearily.

"It's June 29th."

"No, the year." Hermione asked again.

"1976. Why?" Lily asked curiously.

"…No reason, just wondering." Hermione replied in a faint voice. She knew Lily didn't buy her excuse, but she couldn't bring herself to care right now.

Lily looked visibly relieved when Hermione spoke. She stopped fidgeting and smiled but the concern was appearing on her face again. She hesitantly took a seat at the foot of the bed before looking at Hermione. Hermione didn't even notice.

_So I'm twenty two years in the past. How was this even possible!?_ Hermione resisted pulling on her hair; _I need the time-turner so that I can examine it—wait._

"Uh, Lily, did you happen to see a chain around my neck when you saved me?"

"Yeah. I had removed it so that I could remove all the…glass pieces from that area." Lily replied, hesitating before mentioning her injury. What she didn't know was that Hermione had suffered through things a lot worse than that. One prime example being the derogatory carving on her arm hidden under a powerful glamour charm.

Rummaging through her drawer, Lily pulled out the strange looking necklace with an hourglass as the pendant. But the hourglass was broken. Lily already knew the glass that had been embedded onto Hermione's skin when she had first found was from the hourglass. Handling it carefully, she handed it to Hermione. "Here."

Hermione let out the breath she had been holding and took the chain, but the scowled in disappointment. It was fully broken, the hourglass ironically had no glass left, and the crystals that were present inside were fully gone. Only the actual chain with the inscription was not damaged. She could feel herself getting riled up in frustration and anger. She knew time-turners were not invented yet, but now how was she supposed to get home? _Can _she even get home?

"Umm, can I ask how you…Er, ended up in the state you were in?" Lily asked quietly, tucking a strand of red hair behind her hair, looking uncomfortable but determined. "I sent my mum out so that you could speak freely, and also so that you wouldn't feel…uncomfortable."

Hermione's eyebrows furrowed. "I wouldn't feel uncomfortable, Lily…I'm a muggle-born myself."

Lily looked immensely relieved at this and gave a breathless laugh before she sobered up, as if realizing something. "So…is that why you were in that state?" she asked reproachfully, "were…did someone do that to you?" now her eyes held undisguised anger and sympathy.

Hermione swallowed again. What was she to say? That she was hunting for Horcruxes? As if. No, the death eaters attacking her for being a muggle-born sounded more probable than anything. "Yes. Death eaters had found me and had attacked. I was injured before I could escape, but I was lucky to not die." She replied in a curt voice as she lowered her gaze. She didn't feel too good about lying like this, but she needed a probable excuse.

"B-but you're about my age, aren't you? W-why would they—" Lily sputtered in indignation and anger. Hermione cut her off before she could ask any vital questions she wouldn't be able to answer.

"Yeah, well…I suppose I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

She looked down, not wanting to see the pity in the red-head's eyes. She flinched a bit when Lily laid her hand on her shoulder, and was stunned when she peered at her through soft emerald eyes and asked her just as softly, "I'm sorry…Will _you_ be all right?"

Hermione finally took that question into consideration. Will she be all right? She knew Lily's question was about her supposed death eater attack, but the innocent question struck something deep inside her. _Was _she okay with coming back into the past, twenty years? _Will_ she be all right if she could never go back to her own time ever again? _Will_ she be all right if she could never see the Weasley's—Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Ginny, Molly, Arthur—ever again? _Will_ she be all right if she could never see her two best friends in the whole world ever again? _Will_ she be all right if she never saw her parents again?

Then it hit her, like a hippogriff had just slammed onto her. She was _never _going to see anyone she knew ever again. And even if she did, it would never _ever _be the same. She would never have the easy acceptance she had with the Weasley's, she would never have the feeling of being the third part of a puzzle ever again; s_he was _never_ going to see her mum and dad again. _

She was all alone.

She never felt the slow trickling of tears, she felt numb. She couldn't…handle this! She just couldn't! She wanted to go home, where she belonged. This wasn't her time.

She started when she felt arms wrapping around her and her watery eyes widened as she found herself in a tight embrace of comfort. She could barely make out the words of reassurance Lily was whispering, but it did bring her back down to earth for a bit. Hermione wept onto Lily's shoulder, not making any noise. Just silent tears, resigned to her fate.

Lily pulled back when she felt the tears drying up. "It's all right. You're safe now. Don't worry."

Hermione wanted to laugh at the naïve words, but a part of her latched onto the reassuring words. It had been so_ so_ long before she was reassured. It was a comfort she never could afford. But now…

…_I may have a chance…to change things. _It was a fleeting thought, slightly ludicrous, but still…

Hermione lifted her tearful gaze to Lily's and smiled her first small genuine smile since she came here. "Thank you."

Lily's answering smile was beautiful.

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* * *

After drinking the cup of hot chocolate Lily had given her and calming down significantly, Hermione asked the question she wanted to ask since she found out she had travelled back in time and realized that Albus Dumbledore was still alive, and if anyone had any hope to sending her back to her own time, it was that man.

"…Is it possible for you to get into contact with Albus Dumbledore, Lily?" She asked quickly, "I would greatly appreciate it."

"Professor Dumbledore?" Lily asked with one raised red eyebrow, "What do you want him for?"

"I have something of utmost importance to tell him. So, will you help me?" Hermione answered, hopefully being as vague as possible. She needed to meet up with him fast. She needed to tell her predicament to someone, or else she'll go mad. And she couldn't very well tell Lily, she was part of the whole problem. Well, so was Dumbledore, now that she thought about it. It was going to be bloody weird seeing him alive again, especially after having accepted his death at Snape's hands in her time. She wondered how bizarre it was going to see the old man's twinkling eyes and long beard again. But she couldn't deny that he was one of the people she knew to at least some extent in her own time, so she had that small comfort.

"Sure. It may take some time though. We don't have floo here, so I'll have to owl him. Is that okay?" Lily asked while getting up from the bed.

"That's fine! Thank you so much." Hermione smiled gratefully. It was only then she realized how lucky she was to be found in this time by Lily Evans. She couldn't even fathom what would've happened if someone else had found her first—magical or muggle folk alike—it would've been a much harder situation.

"I'll be back in a few then." Lily smiled warmly before exiting and closing the door softly behind her. Hermione let out a big sigh and rubbed her face with her hand wearily. She felt dirty and sweaty and tired. Sobbing like she had before had taken a lot out of her. She knew she wouldn't be able to let go of her past that easily, if at all, but somehow, she felt a connection with Lily before when she comforted her. That gave her a small inkling of hope, that maybe; she won't be as alone as she had thought in the beginning. Just as she placed the now empty cup on the side table, Lily entered again.

"I've owled him. He may come in a few hours though. So…er…" Lily trailed off awkwardly, not knowing how to continue this conversation with the slightly intimidating witch.

Hermione felt her lips pulling up in a smile involuntarily. It was such a…Harry thing, to be stumbling about in a sentence, to feel awkward in silence. She felt herself trying to ease the girl. "So Lily, do you go to Hogwarts?"

Looking relieved more than anything, Lily smiled brightly before sitting down again. "Oh yes. You know about Hogwarts? I know you're not a student there, seeing as I've never seen you there."

"Oh no, I'm not. I had...uh, a private tutor. Yes." Hermione stuttered in the middle. She hoped that was a believable excuse. She really needed to discuss things with Dumbledore before giving out any information, fake or otherwise.

Fortunately, Lily perked up at this. "Private tutor? That's interesting! I've never met a witch who was home schooled before! But, how exactly are the portions covered?"

"Oh…it's not that different. It's just that the lessons are taught right at home by one teacher, you see. My…parents didn't want to send me so far away." Hermione explained slowly, praying to the Gods that Lily wouldn't suspect anything.

Fortunately, she seemed to believe this as she sat a bit straighter and asked with twinkling eyes, "Oh! So, what's your favorite subject?"

Hermione perked up at this. Finally something she could talk about.

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Lily felt herself smiling as she listened to Hermione go on about the importance of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy and how no one these days realized it. She felt herself agreeing with all the things the witch was saying. She was pleasantly surprised when Hermione seemed to completely light up at the mention of subjects and learning. It seemed she was like her in that sense, and it was one of the best conversations of her life, if she thought about. It wasn't that surprising actually, considering that the people in her year at Hogwarts weren't really studious people or those that thrived on acquiring knowledge, save for some exceptions.

It was like they were one and the same, at least on their thinking processes and their heritage. About Ancient runes, about the House-elves and the other topic they had covered—about how prejudiced the magical world was, and how hard it is for muggle-borns out there. That was the cincher really, Lily mused.

Being the only Muggle-born in her house was really hard. She never wanted to burden anyone with her feelings on the topic, but she could never say it never bothered her. How can it not, when the gruesome articles in _The Daily Prophet_ are all about the 'recent killings of muggle-borns' or 'muggle-born family murdered' or 'muggles tortured' or something along those lines? It could make any person lose hope, really.

But this girl, Hermione—a muggle-born— not only went through something that was probably a very traumatic experience, but survived and _still_ believed that everything would turn out alright? It was the stuff of fairytales.

But the dark determination that glinted in her toffee eyes said otherwise. And it gave her a small sense of hope.

Lily gave a breathless laugh at the revelation. This girl was practically a stranger, but she hadn't felt a bond like this since Severus. And that was a scary thought. It was…_easy_, in a sense. They'd been talking for hours, but she barely knew it. It was…nice.

_It's easy…_she repeated in her head.

She looked up to see a pair of toffee eyes looking at her questioningly, probably wondering why she was laughing like a mental person. Her cheeks darkened but she gave an honest answer. She wanted to know if Hermione felt that same way. "I was just thinking how easy it is to talk to you. As if…you understand me somehow," she said softly.

Hermione blinked before understanding warmed her gaze. A small smile appeared on her face. "I know…I feel the same way."

Lily couldn't help but smile at that. Suddenly she heard the doorbell. She got up from the bed and headed towards the door, "That must be Professor Dumbledore."

Suddenly Hermione looked more alert, her eyes intense. She struggled to get up from the bed to follow Lily. "No, don't. I'll bring him up here. I don't think you should move right now." Lily said sternly before going out the door.

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* * *

Hermione looked up when she saw the door open and there he was. _Professor Albus Dumbledore._ It was disconcerting to see the familiar twinkling blue eyes, the long beard, the half-moon spectacles, the knowing smile. She had time to prepare to see him in the flesh again, but nothing could've prepared her to see a person who was dead, alive in front of her again. He pretty much looked the same as his future counterpart, except his beard was more of a silver than full-on white. She could also take comfort in the fact that Dumbledore had worn bright gaudy robes in the past too. today, he had worn a bright blue with intricate patterns. It felt like a constant, and she needed that.

Lily entered after him and stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. Suddenly, she felt a faint feeling of claustrophobia and sincerely hoped it would pass soon. She wanted to be fully alert and feeling fine when she _does_ tell him the whole story.

Dumbledore turned to face Hermione, the twinkle of his eyes still present in his penetrating gaze. "Now, you are the Miss Hermione that Lily was discussing?" He inquired, smiling. "Do you have a family name to go with your Shakespearean given?" Lily also looked at her curiously.

"Granger." Hermione said, deciding to face the consequences—if any—later. She was a bit surprised that he knew of Shakespeare, but then again, not. She knew she had to be fully honest if she wanted the whole truth. But having Lily in the room was proving to be a bit of a problem at the moment.

He must've seen something—anxiousness, nervousness—in her gaze because he suddenly turned to the red-headed girl and kindly requested, "Miss Evans, if you would be so kind as to leave temporarily while Miss Granger and I have a brief conversation? I assure you, it won't take much time."

Lily looked reluctant but nodded quietly and stepped to the door, but not before giving a soft smile to Hermione before leaving. Once the door was closed, Dumbledore once again turned to her with a soft smile.

"Now, I heard that you were a right sight when you were found, Miss Granger. Do you mind telling me what happened to you, and how you landed here in that pitiful state?"

His voice had turned a bit more sharper in the end, and she looked down, trying to quell down the nausea. She could feel his intense, probing gaze. She had guarded her memories the moment he had come in, the high walls shielding her mind from unwanted intruders. Harry had taught both her and Ron Occlumency, should it be necessary. Right now, she was thankful.

She twisted her hands in front of her and smiled weakly before looking up directly at the twinkling blue eyes. "…That would be a bit difficult to explain without explain the basic facts, Professor, but I'll try anyway. But I do need you to listen to me, as this is of gravest importance"

She noticed how Dumbledore's stance had become more alert, as if bracing himself for some shocking news._ Too true, that, _she thought wryly.

"…M-maybe I should start with this. My name is Hermione Granger, and the year I seem to have left behind was 1998."

There was a soft intake of breath and she looked to her side to see Dumbledore's slightly wide eyes, but he was quiet. Feeling the slightest bit of panic rising up, she continued,

"Before you say anything, you have to know that I'm telling the truth. I would never lie about something as _dangerous_ as this. I had all the Ministry Rules on travelling through time memorized long back and I know terrible things happen to witches or wizards who meddle with time, but you have to believe me when I say it was never my intention! This all happened on an accident really. A terrible one. I never wanted to come back to the past, seeing as we were _so close—_"she stopped as her throat clogged up, but she cleared her throat and began again. "All I know is that one moment the Order of the Phoenix, students remaining and I were fighting the dark side, and now I'm here."

She belatedly realized that tears had formed in the corner of her eyes and wiped them off with the sleeve of her shirt before they could fall. Through it all, Dumbledore had kept quiet. When she looked up, she saw that Dumbledore had gone rod-still and she wondered what she had said.

Dumbledore, on the other hand, felt a shiver in his spine when he realized that the Order, which he was only planning on starting, was still present in_ twenty years?_ Now he knew for sure that this Hermione really was from the future, as unbelievable as that was. This was far more serious than he had thought. When he first got the letter from his student, Lily Evans, about the mysterious stranger that was found in that state, he had immediately thought of another victim of the rising Death Eaters. And it seemed he was right, only he didn't realize to _what extent._

This was more than he had ever imagined. And based on what this witch—who seemed like someone who had experienced things far beyond her age—had revealed, the future was quite grim.

"…The Order of the Phoenix is still active more than twenty years in the past?" he asked in a grave voice as he looked down at her. Her eyes widened when she realized what she had said, but then she relaxed. She knew she had to tell the extent of the war eventually.

"Yes Professor. It is."

His mind was positively reeling. This could be very hazardous. This witch being twenty two years in the past may very well mess up the time-line they were to follow. But then, could change be a terrible thing? Should he even be considering this? His thoughts were interrupted when Hermione spoke.

"Look, I-I know it's a lot to take in right now, but you _have_ to believe me!" Hermione cried out, and she cringed when she heard the underline of desperation in her voice, but she couldn't help it.

"My dear girl, I can't even imagine how hard all of this must be for you, yet you worry about me!" Dumbledore said, smiling widely yet the shock was still present. "But don't worry, I _do_ believe you. It is evident in your eyes."

Hermione felt the painful relief creeping in and looked down before taking a deep breath. "I don't think I could possibly tell you everything, I mean I _can't_—but I will try. Will you listen?"

Dumbledore had turned stiff. The glint in his blue eyes had dimmed a bit, as if fearing the future. "Miss, I do not that is wise, as time is a very improbable and tricky thing. I cannot tell you how this discussion could change the events that are to be—"

"But that's what I intend to do, Professor!" Hermione interrupted loudly, "I intend to _change_ things! I'm sorry, I know that this may be a foolish desire, but sir, you _do not know_ how bleak the future is. You _cannot_ imagine the grief, the sorrow. But if you know that this bloody war is going to be stretched out for a span of more than _twenty years_, I think you'd have some idea…and now, this…opportunity has fallen onto my lap. _Am I not supposed to take it?" _by the end, the desperation and pain in her voice was clearly evident.

Dumbledore was truly shocked. He had seen the pain, the desperation, the utter sorrow outlined in the witch's gaze. And suddenly, she seemed weary; she seemed _old_ in his eyes. Maybe not old, he corrected, but as if the weight of the world was resting on her shoulder. As if she had been through too much, too soon. And if this was the state of students at this age in the future, then maybe she was right. He felt the compelling urge to help this poor soul who had been brought to a time not her own. Anyone going through this ordeal would have gone mad with the information they had, or given up. But not her.

No. she was trying to change it.

"You are, Miss Granger." Dumbledore finally answered, gazing at the witch with kind, soft eyes.

Hermione's eyes widened. "…Really?" she couldn't help but question bleakly, but at his nod and smile, she felt as something was_ finally_ going right in this twisted scenario.

Dumbledore smiled when he saw the glint of determination appear in her eyes once more. He cleared his throat and peered at her through his half-moon spectacles before speaking.

"You see, I'm in a bit of a pickle now considering what you have just told me, but I have always believed in the greater good, you see. Now, I know there are a lot of strict rules about time-travelling and meddling with time, but seeing how determined you are to change future events, it has led me to believe that future is not bright at all."

Hermione nodded, relieved. She perked up in anticipation at what he said next.

"Now, Miss Granger, I would like you to tell me everything."

Hermione smiled a true smile. "Well, I guess I should begin with my best friend; Harry James Potter—"

Hermione went into an explanation of everything that had happen since the death of Harry Potter's parents, the night they were betrayed by one of their best friends. Dumbledore sat silent through her story, never interrupting as she told him about the adventures they went through during her first year with the troll and the three-headed dog and Quirrel, her second with the Chamber Of Secrets and the Basilisk, third with helping Sirius Black—who was a wrongfully blamed Azkaban prisoner—escape and fourth when Harry was chosen for the Triwizard Tournament. He smiled at places and frowned at some things, but let her speak at her own pace. She told him about the prophecy that had had such an impact on all their lives, how they had started an illegal defense group, and she thought she could see his eyes twinkle at the mention of the name they had given themselves – Dumbledore's Army. But when she got to the part where they had battled Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic, the headmaster had an incredulous look on his face.

"You fought Death Eaters in your fifth year?" he asked in a shocked tone. Hermione smiled grimly.

"Yes. It wasn't easy at all, everyone was scared or panicked. Most of us were injured. That was the year Sirius Black died—he fell into the veil in the Department of Mysteries, killed by Bellatrix was a fitting end really, dying in battle. But it was a heavy blow to our side. Harry was devastated." Hermione frowned at the unfairness of it all. "Sirius was the only real family he had left and even that was taken away."

Her gaze was fixed at the curtains, her voice toneless as if she was reciting an old story, but Dumbledore caught the underlying tremble in her voice. "He lost all his innocence that day. We all did, in a way. That was when all of use actually realized that…this was real. That this war was happening."

"I think there was a bit of relief too. We knew the real battle could start at last. That was when our training started—mine, Harry's, Ron's and the Weasley's that is. Harry became obsessed with his dueling skills; he kept us at it for days on end. Mad eye, Tonk's, Remus and the other Order members would teach us self-defence and spells we would need whenever they could get out of the office. But the Ministry was becoming more corrupt and they found out that the Order members were being followed, so in the end, they hardly stopped by anymore."

Dumbledore was growing more and more shocked. This was..._barbaric, really._ Training students to be soldiers? He couldn't imagine the state of the Wizarding world if it was resorting to this.

Hermione explained her sixth year vaguely about the half-blood prince, about the Vanishing Cabinet and The Battle of the Astronomy Tower, and the death of Dumbledore by the hands of Snape.

"I wasn't there when it actually happened. I only know through Harry's memories. But this was one incident that had brought down the hopes of many. After all, you were the greatest wizard ever. A symbol of hope and safety. At the time, Snape was resented thoroughly, Especially by Harry. But then later, we found out the truth." Hermione said. Dumbledore was silent again, but she didn't exactly blame him.

"We later found out through Snape's memories that you were already wasting away because of a curse and that you had already pre-planned your death with Snape, who was loyal to the Order because of his lifelong love for Lily Evans. You wanted a more merciful death than at the hands of Death Eaters. Snape had simply followed orders, and being the brilliant deceptive person he was, we never even found out until his death in the end." Hermione chuckled mirthlessly, shaking her head. Tears were forming again.

Dumbledore's alarmed voice reached her then, "I think we should stop here and we can contin—"

"No! I need to finish it now. I'm almost at the end anyway." Hermione cried out before continuing, "Before your death, you had told harry about a dark object. The object being the key to destroying Voldemort, though I'm not sure you are aware of this know. Professor, do you know about Horcruxes?'

She was not surprised when she heard Dumbledore's surprised gasp and turned to face his alarmed gaze. "Horcruxes?! He made those terrible things? I did have a hunch Tom was evil, but never knew to what extent. But this—"Dumbledore sighed, closing his eyes. "How many?" he asked in a low tone.

Hermione cleared her throat. "There were…seven in my time."

"Seven?" he repeated, his voice laced with disbelief and disappointment.

"Yes. There was Ravenclaws diadem, Hufflepuff's cup, the Gaunt ring, Slytherin's locket, Tom Riddle's diary, Nagini—his snake and Harry himself. Harry, Ron and I had already destroyed five of these before I was…transported here. I assume that only five of the seven would be made my now. I don't believe He has the snake yet." She explained evenly.

"It is going to be extremely difficult either way, though. Without his Horcruxes, Voldemort will be a mortal man with a maimed and diminished soul. But it is still important to note that he is still an exceptional wizard and it'll take a lot of power to defeat him, even without the Horcruxes."

"I _will_ change things." Hermione uttered, tears impairing her vision again as she almost glared at Dumbledore. But his reply was short and to the point.

"Yes. I agree."

Hermione hastily wiped the tears, as if they were personally offending and Dumbledore watched her righting herself, as if she was scared to look vulnerable. In fact, he had noticed this throughout this melancholy and depressing discussion. _Oh, you poor girl…_

"Miss Granger, you do realize that the past, or your future as you knew it exists no longer." Dumbledore's voice was heavy and he suddenly appeared tired. "So what you have told me here will change nothing as there is no 'future' yet?"

She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Yes, I do realize it…that's why I told you the future events. I will…no I _need_ to change it. To make it a better world for the others…" she replied, her voice growing fainter towards the end.

…_But what about you, my child?_

Dumbledore clapped his hands once and smiled, looking at her over his glasses. "Now, my brave girl, we have much to discuss! First off, I've noticed your injuries. That simply will not do! But worry not, as I know a few healing charms myself. Miss Evans told me that your ribs are the main problem?"

"Yes, I suspect there's bruising, but—" Hermione said.

"Ah, I have just the thing! _Figere Livor. "_ he twisted his wand—the Elder Wand, Hermione belatedly realized—in a complicated twist and suddenly, they pain in the ribs area started receding and she let out a breath of relief. She twisted her torso this way and that and was relieved to find no pain. _I have _got_ to learn that spell._

"Thank you." She replied gratefully. Her bright eyes met his twinkling ones. "So…does this mean you'll help me?"

"Yes, dear girl. But for now, I think it best for you to get some rest. You have come out of a war, Hermione. It would be foolish to ignore the trauma both your body and mind has been through. I can't say I'm less than deeply horrified for the future you have been describing to me. I absolutely agree about the need for action, but the times are still rather peaceful. Some things have been stirring on the edges, yes, but the overall climate is one of peace."

"So, that leaves us to plan the rest of your future, here in your past. Such a conundrum. If I were to suggest some more practical things, will you hear me out?"

Hermione nodded.

"First, I take it from your retelling of your school years that you should be seventeen years old, yes?"

Hermione nodded.

"Well, how would you feel about continuing your education in Hogwarts? I do recommend you do, as it would be quite difficult to attain a job without it." he asked joyfully.

Hermione frowned contemplatively. Does she want to go back to Hogwarts? The place that was like her second home? The place where she met her two bestest friends in the whole world? The place where her life really started? Without a doubt, yes.

"No, I agree. I do want to stay at Hogwarts for my last year."

"Splendid!" Dumbledore said with a tilt in his tone and a raised eyebrow, "Though I advise you to, as I feel it, continue your schooling from sixth year onwards seeing as you had missed a bit of the year at the end? It would make the process easier, m'dear."

Hermione flushed, indignation rising. "I was the top student in my year—"

"Of course you were, my dear. I would never doubt that!" Dumbledore winked at her, making her stop halfway, "I merely suggested so that you could have the complete schooling. I suspect that Voldemort will know of your presence as soon as you begin your first term and it would be safer for all if I kept you closer to my person for a longer period of time-do you understand where I am coming from?""

Hermione nodded. She was not particular ecstatic that she had to repeat her sixth year, but it would have to do for now. She found no reason to complain. "Yes sir, I understand. And as a student there, I would be able to help you with the search for the Horcruxes."

"Yes, that's right! Oh, and Miss Granger?"

"Yes?"

"I think for the time being it should be imperative that you tell nobody other than myself about the truth of your origins. It's best with these kinds of things to keep our cards close to our chests...though I do believe that in time you will be able to tell those you trust completely the truth. But for now its best just to tell others that Death Eaters targeted and slew your family and friends for being muggle-born, a horrible mistruth, I know, but absolutely necessary. The less detail, the more people are likely to believe."

"Yes, of course Professor."

Dumbledore smiled widely, his eyes shining. "Now that that's settled with, we should move on to your stay. You have no previous records saying you attended, or that you are magical, but that shouldn't be too big of a problem. I'll see what I can do about that. I _am_ an important person after all." He winked at her, blue eyes twinkling. "And what of your O.W.L's?"

Hermione smiled in pride thinking of her grades. "I have ten O.W.L's. Nine O's for Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures and History of Magic and an E for Defence." Her tone had turned slightly bitter at the end and a small frown had appeared on her face.

Dumbledore chuckled, "Ten O.W.L's? That is certainly impressive. Miss Granger, Has anyone ever told you that you are exceptionally bright?"

Hermione flushed. She had heard that many times, in fact, he was the one of the first to tell her so. A fact she took pride in. Just then, the door slightly opened and a head full of red hair peeped in, looking sheepish. "Er, can I come in?"

"Certainly, Miss Evans! Come in!" Dumbledore said jovially.

She entered, and Hermione noticed she had a cup of tea in her hands. Walking quickly, she handed the cup to Dumbledore, who smiled thankfully and took it. After taking a sip and thanking her, he turned back to Hermione.

"In the meantime, Hermione, what shall we do with you until term starts?" he asked over the tea.

Hermione was a bit alarmed that he was talking about this in front of Lily Evans, but before she could say anything, Lily cut in. "Do you mean that Hermione is going to go to Hogwarts too, Professor?" she asked happily, looking at Dumbledore quizzically.

"Indeed, Miss Evans. You see, the most unfortunate event happened during the past few days. Miss Granger's family was…murdered by the followers of You-Know-Who…" Dumbledore explained in a grave voice. "That is why she was found in that state, as you know. But now, she has no place to stay at, which is quite a predicament…"

Hermione was quite puzzled when she heard this explanation, and grew even more confused when she saw the brief wink thrown her way, unseen by Lily. Lily on the other hand, was distraught at the new information. She couldn't bear to imagine the pain the other muggle-born witch must be going through. And now, to have no home was just terrible, no one should have to go through that alone…suddenly a thought struck her.

"Professor, if I may interject?" Lily suddenly spoke, suddenly looking nervous.

"Of course, Miss Evans. Is there something the matter?"

"If Hermione doesn't mind, that is, I would love to have Hermione stay with my family and I. It would be of no problem, really. I was just talking with my mum about it, and we _were_ wondering if she had any place to stay…" she spoke fast, as if it was not her place to suggest anything, but when she looked at Hermione's nervous gaze, she smiled wide.

Hermione was shocked. She could feel the tears filling her eyes and did nothing to stop it. She couldn't believe this was really happening…Lily Evans was offering her a home. It was truly a wonderful feeling being accepted.

"But…Lily…I can't expect you to do that for me…you've already done too much, I—" Hermione stammered.

"But _nothing_! You didn't have a place to stay, and now you do and that's the end of it! Is that alright, Professor?" Lily asked, turning to the old wizard and ignoring Hermione's objections fully. Hermione closed her eyes again and stopped her words; it was of no use anyway. _Oh Harry, your mother is just like you—stubborn and kind to a fault!_ But she could feel a smile growing on her face.

Dumbledore clapped his hands cheerily, "That's a brilliant idea, Miss Evans! That's settled, then! Miss Granger you will stay with the Evans here until the new term starts and you'll attend Hogwarts. Now my dear I must get going, I now have a lot to contemplate. I have no doubt I will see you more over this holiday, but please do enjoy yourself. Oh, and Miss Evans, please convey my thanks to your mother for the marvelous tea." Dumbledore rose to his feet, adjusting his robes.

And with a final smile to both the muggle-born witches, he disapparated with a loud _crack_.

Lily turned to Hermione with a brilliant smile, "so, what subjects are you planning on taking when you get to Hogwarts?"

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	3. Of a Trip and Prophecies

**Disclaimer**-I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or any of the things from _that_ world. I simply own the plot.

**Pairings-** Hermione Granger/Sirius Black, Lily Evans/James Potter

**Rating-** T

**Note-** this is my first ever Harry Potter fanfic. I'm doing this with my favorite fictional pairing, i.e, HG/SB. The scene of the room of requirements was completely taken from the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2, since I haven't read the book yet. If there is anything wrong written, please correct me so that I won't make the same mistake again. I know the time-turner thing is kinda cliché, but you just can't make a classic time-travelling story without it!

Some of the tips I used for time-travelling is from other fan fictions, such as _Flying High_ by _ . _. Another reference I used I'd is _The Thief of Time_ by _Tinkwolfe_. I love both these stories a lot as these were the first SB/HG time fan fictions I'd read.

**Extra note-** sorry for the long long _long _wait. But, this is an extra-long chapter, more than 9000 words! Which is a first for me, but I just couldn't seem to stop writing!

**Thanks to-**nikyta,PeaceLoveUnicorns94 ,MarauderHermionePotterBlack, JuliaLestrange, JenniferLupinBlack, padfootsnuffles, Black Mirror, WonderfulHallows, Rinou, harrypotterforeverx, TheAngelOnYourRight , Hanable-13—_for your wonderful reviews._

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**The Revisionist**

Chapter 2:_ Of a Trip and Prophecies_

By

**fourthfireshadow**

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"Hey Hermione? I think it's time to introduce you to the family now…" Lily said, grinning.

Hermione raised an eyebrow, her face twisted in a nervous expression. "Really? Do you think they'll feel like I'm imposing? I really don't want to be a burden—"

"Shh! Not at all! My fam's great, believe me. Everyone'll love you of course! Well, everyone except for maybe my older sister…" Lily trailed off in the end biting her lip.

Of course Hermione knew who she was talking about. The ever famous Petunia Dursley. Petunia Evans now, she corrected. Harry's rotten aunt. She remembered Harry telling her about Petunia's childhood, how she was always rude and ignorant towards her younger special sister due to insecurities and jealousy. Hermione always thought it was a really petty excuse. Just because of a major setback, she severed the bond she had with Lily, with whom she was really close to. But she couldntr very well tell Lily all of this, so…

"Oh?" Hermione asked curiously.

Lily sighed, pushing her red hair away from her face. "well, my sister Petunia…she really…doesn't like anything to do with magic whatsoever…it's always been a problem between us—me being magical and her being…normal."

"What do you mean a problem?"

"It's just that we don't exactly have the closest bond now." She said in a curt voice that signaled the end of the topic. "You'll see."

Hermione followed as Lily walked down the stairs. Hermione could feel the anxiousness returning. That, along with the dull ache everywhere made her nausea return. Resisting the urge to groan into her hands, she followed the redhead into the living room. She fought the urge to bolt. This was going to be her new family, like it or not. If they didn't kick her out first. Could she actually do this?

"—re you saying that the witch upstairs lost her entire family?"

"Yes! And could you talk any more loudly? I think the Jeffersons next door didn't quite hear you!"

"Wait! Are you saying there's going to be another freak in the house now?! Is there no semblance for peace in this household anymore?"

"Watch your words Petunia Grace Evans, or so help me—"

"Ahem. Thank you for your attention mum, dad…Tuney. This is…Hermione Granger. The girl I told you about, the one who's to live here…" Lily introduced nervously to the people in the room. Hermione didn't think she ever felt this nervous before in her life except for school related things. She had heard the conversation that had been going on but she had expected the skepticism. She had also prepared herself for any negativity from the other girl, and judging from what she had heard, she was right to be prepared.

However, she was not prepared for the warm embrace she received right then from Mrs. Evans. Shock was clearly shown on her face as her eyes widened and she tensed. She didn't return the hug, but it didn't deter one bit.

"Hello again, dear one," she said, her green eyes twinkling kindly as she pulled back a bit, "I heard from Lily what happened to your family Hermione, and I just want you to know that you are welcome here. Please consider this your home now even if it is temporary, all right?"

At that, Hermione felt a slight stinging sensation near the corners of her eyes again.

"Yes, please do. Hermione, is it? It…is a tragic and unfortunate thing that happened to your family and I am so very sorry for—" Mr. Evans began awkwardly but sincerely.

"Oh no, please don't apologize for something you had…no control over ." Hermione interrupted quietly before he could finish an apology for an event that never happened, at least in that context. Also, she didn't want anyone reminding her of her real family right now.

Mr. Evans looked surprised for a moment before nodding and smiling sadly. Hermione focused on Mr. Evans for the first time since she came here. He had bright red thinning hair, a tan face with freckles and pale eyes. His eyes were very expressive, she noticed immediately. Warm and sincere. She took an instant liking to Mr. and Mrs. Evans. They were genuine, and it was refreshing.

"Well, you are welcome to stay here for as long as you need. It's not a problem at all. After all, no one should be alone after an incident like the one you went through. I don't really understand why it did happen, but it doesn't matter now." Mr. Evans said, smiling kindly. She could see Lily beaming in the background. Hermione didn't know how to express her gratitude correctly.

"…Thank you for letting me stay here," Hermione told them sincerely. "If there is anything I can do to make my presence less of a burden, please let me know. I'll gladly pay for any hindrance I may cause both of you."

Hermione thought she had angered Mrs. Evans when she saw her face puckering, but then Mrs. Evans chided her, "Don't ever think you're a burden in the coming days of you staying here and we wouldn't dream of making you pay for staying."

"We're not the kind of people to send away a person when they're helpless, Hermione. You're not imposing on us, we'd be glad if you did stay. It would make us feel better if you stayed where we know you're safe." Mr. Evans said firmly.

Petunia scoffed. "Speak for yourself, dad. I for one am not pleased with another freak staying here. As if one wasn't enough, Lily here decides to bring in another one!"

"Petunia, that's enough!" Mrs. Evans shouted sternly. Petunia scoffed again and pivoted towards another room at the end of the hallway, but not before giving Hermione a look of utter loathing.

Mrs. Evans sighed. "That was our other daughter, Petunia. I am very sorry for her behavior, but trust me; she'll be in a better socializing mood later."

Hermione hid a small smile when she saw Lily shaking her head from where she was standing and mouthing '_no she won't.'_

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* * *

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore **(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

_Dear Miss Granger,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours sincerely,_

**Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress**

* * *

**~COURSE BOOKS~**

_All sixth year students should have a copy of each of the following__**:**_

**The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 6)** _by Miranda Goshawk_

**Advanced Potion-Making **_by Libatius Borage_

**Confronting the** **Faceless** _by Quentin Trimble_

**A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration** by _Emeric Switch_

**Advanced Rune Translation** _by Addlebart Waffling_

**Goshawk's Guide to Herbology** _by Miranda Goshawk_

* * *

_Dear Miss Granger,_

_Enclosed in this envelope you will find a key. This key is for your vault that I have personally set and filled for you in Gringotts under your name. I am sure this sum will cover all your expenses for the following school year. This will also cover the expense for retrieving a new wand, seeing as you had lost your original one. Please make a visit to Gringotts to collect the needed sum during your trip to Diagon Alley with Miss. Evans for your school supplies. Attached with this letter is the letter of acceptance from Hogwarts for your sixth year. Usually, this letter is sent only to first-years, as you know, but your case is certainly an exception, isn't it? _

_Hope you had a lovely summer and that you aren't finding it too difficult to be comfortable and settled with the Evans family. I will see you at the start of the term feast, and please do not hesitate to see me whenever you wish to._

_I am rather quite fond of chocolate cauldrons at the moment._

_Yours Truly,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

_Headmaster of Hogwarts_

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* * *

Lily was quickly turning out to be her soul sister.

She was sure of it. How can she not be, when they both are literally one and the same? It's just not possible, normally. But now, she would have to rethink these things. She had never had such a strong connection so fast. It was instant, just like that. It was frightening, it was ridiculous, and it was relieving. It really was for Hermione.

In a way, she felt irrationally guilty for having this strong bond with Lily so quickly, as if she was betraying the friendship she had with Harry and Ron—at least a little part of her did. Did that even make sense? She didn't think so, but it never fully went away, always lying dormant in her mind as if simmering. The feeling was uncomfortable and it always led her to hold herself back a little whenever she was with the redhead, never fully trying. Of course, she could _never truly_ tell everything about herself to Lily, but she would like to at least share the rest.

And the worst part was, Lily was beginning to notice and Hermione knew it.

Lily, on her part, was ridiculously happy on having found a friend, a sister. It really was unbelievable how quickly such a bond had formed. She was one who actually understood Lily on a personal basis, and not just pretending to because this girl had actually _lived_ through the nightmare Lily sometimes has and _survived._

For Lily, this girl was a friend who was quickly becoming a very important person in her life. A sister. She was the girl who took her as she is—flaws and all. No judgment for being a muggle-born or a know-it-all. It was a friendship she always dreamed of having. A friendship she once had with a certain pale black haired boy a long time ago.

She was finally having it back.

Of course, she'd be thick not to notice Hermione's hesitation on certain topics. But Lily wasn't perturbed, much. They had time after all. She couldn't remember the number of times she tried to reconcile with her muggle sister, Petunia in the first few years. Then she just gave up, lamenting over the fact that she would never have that close connection, a sisterly bond with someone ever again. And while her roommates at Hogwarts were terrific, and the greatest of friends, they had never known of Lily's insecurities, her doubts and fears, and so Hogwarts would often appear lonely to her even when it really wasn't.

She was just glad to have someone with her now.

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* * *

"Hermione?"

A voice broke through the surface of darkness Hermione had plunged deeply into. It was a kind, gentle voice which could put a child to sleep as well as a glass of warm foamy milk.

"Mmm?" Hermione hummed back, stretching her arms above her head and flexing her toes. In some miraculous way, her eyes fluttered open and she was awake. Although her eyes weren't completely focused and all she could see at that moment was a blur of colors, she felt her mattress fall under someone's weight

"We're going to Diagon Alley today, remember? We planned to go shopping? Ring any bells?"

"Yeah…" Hermione yawned and once again attempted to open her eyes, this time gaining the advantage of a dark shadow, which covered her face. Slowly, her eyes focused and she saw an amused Lily in front of her. "What time do we leave?" Hermione grinned sleepily, urging Lily to raise a cheerful eyebrow.

"Oh, you're eager aren't you? And so early in the morning too." Lily laughed cheerfully, exposing her set of straight white teeth. Lily was already dressed, Hermione noticed, in a white striped full-sleeved tee that really set off her vibrant hair with high waist jeans and ankle boots. She looked…really good.

"Well, I should suppose so Lils, seeing as I haven't set foot outside in almost two weeks." Hermione sighed in exaggeration and closed her eyes, but was determined not to fall asleep. Instead, she suddenly sat up, resting her whole body on the palms of her hands. She was glad the pain was minimal now. Dumbledore's healing spell had worked wonders, and along with Lily's and her Mrs. Evans strict rest regimen, she was almost as good as new.

When Hermione shook herself out of her drowsy state, Lily stood up. "You should get dressed. You can choose anything of mine from the closet; I reckon we're about the same size. We should get going to breakfast and then we can head out to Diagon Alley first. I can't imagine how it must be for you to not have your wand with you for two whole weeks…" Lily said pulling a face.

"Pure torture Lils." Hermione groaned, but then smiled widely. "Though I am very excited to finally get my wand again. What time is it anyway?" she stretched her arms again with her eyes closed, satisfied when she got rid of a kink in her back.

Lily took a quick glanced at the clock on her bedside table and turned around to Hermione, informing her of the requested information. "8:45. But we'd have to get there before the rush starts. I predict many students will be shopping there as well, school's about to start as you know."

"Oh, I really can't wait to get out of here at last."

"Well, we'll leave as soon as you brush your teeth and fix your hair; it looks like a squirrel died in it, honestly!" Lily teased, sticking out her tongue before rushing out the door laughing, closing the door with a bang before a pillow smacked it.

Hermione tentatively touched her hair with her fingertips and resisted to groan out loud. It was rough and tangled and ugh. Lily was probably right, Hermione mused depressingly. Her hair probably did look like the grave of a rodent. Still sleepy, she rubbed the crust off her eyes and pushed her feet of the bed onto to the smooth but chilling wooden floor. She looked at the bed next to hers and smiled. It was clean and made. The bed was brought into the room a few days after Hermione was found, so that Lily and Hermione could stay in the room together. While not ideal, the girls had formed such a crazy friendship that the parents thought this was for the best.

She quickly went into the joint washroom and locked the door. Rubbing her hands over her face, she looked at herself in the mirror. Light toffee eyes, pale skin with slight freckles, pink lips and straight (thanks to Malfoy) set of teeth. Hair as crazy as it always was. Actually, not really, she mused as she brushed the tangles and the knots out. Her hair is actually relatively tamer than it was as in; say her first or second year. Now, it was wavier, for which she was thankful of. She had one less thing to worry about now when going out to meet the world of the 1970's. She looked at her reflection, the same as it always was, a bit thinner-a bit leaner from all the hiding and the running-more malnourished looking, but still essentially the same.

Then why did she feel…so different?

She could see her eyes were still blood-shot. She still had some nightmares, aftermath of the war that never happened here—she didn't want to admit it, but living in a stranger time was proving to be very difficult. She wanted to see someone, anyone really, who knew her—the real her. But she knew that will never happen now. She knew she was still in a bit of denial; making up her mind to change this world and missing her own world was very…burdening, to say the least.

Lily and the Evans family were making her transition process a lot simpler, but not _easier,_ if that makes sense. She had the power to change things, the knowledge to save lives, the strength to defeat the dark menace, but she knew in the back of her mind, there was a lingering thought that whispered she would give all this up if could in any way, get back to Harry and Ron and her parents.

Did that make her a bad person? Or just a normal one?

She quickly brushed and showered and did her morning rituals before towel-drying her hair—as it was the only way until she gets her wand—and stepping out of the washroom and opening the closet doors. Her eyes widened. Lily sure had a lot of clothes. Maybe they weren't as alike as she thought.

She quickly selected an outfit that was more her. A full-sleeved navy blue and cream top and beige pants, this was also high waist and uncomfortable as hell, but she really couldn't do anything right now.

She really needed her wand.

Putting on the first pair of flats she saw, she quickly tied her hair in a messy ponytail and left the bedroom. She couldn't help herself; she had a jittery excitement flowing inside her. She was going to go to Diagon Alley! While climbing down the stairs in a more composed manner, she smiled as she smelt the delicious smell of eggs and toast. Mrs. Evans—Rachel, she always says to call her—makes the best breakfasts ever. The Evans family had a system. Breakfast was by since she wakes up at ungodly hours, lunch was by either of the two daughters and dinner was by —Richard, be it take-out or home-made. It was absolutely wonderful, like a real close-knit family.

Hermione had never known a family like this; they almost resembled the closeness of the Weasley clan. So close, so warm. Well, except for the glitch in the picture—Petunia. Hermione had had the displeasure of meeting Petunia in both timelines, and in both, she was displeasing. She remembered the first meeting had not gone over well at all.

She'd be lying if she said the reception from the oldest child had gotten warmer. It hadn't. If anything, she was even colder now, both to her and to Lily, but she seemed to be used to it, making a laugh out of the whole thing.

But Hermione could always make out the underlying hurt in her deep green eyes after each time Petunia mocked or called them names. And it made Hermione resent her all the more, but she never could say anything because technically she _was_ living in her house.

"It looks good, mum!" Lily chirped happily, making her way to the kitchen counter and helping herself to a croissant.

"Oh! You girls are all up and ready to go, aren't you? Well, breakfast will be done in just a minute! Lily dear, will you set the table?" Rachel asked looking up from her cooking.

"Sure."

"It smells really good, Mrs. Evans." Hermione smiled.

"Thank you dear, but how many times should I tell you to call me Rachel?"

"Uh, probably enough. Sorry—er, Rachel."

"That's better! Now let's eat."

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.

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* * *

"The only way to get to Diagon Alley from here is by the Knight Bus. So, where do you want to go first? Diagon Alley or muggle London?" Lily asked, rolling down the sleeves of her shirt as a chilly breeze blew by.

They both looked at each other and answered the question simultaneously; "Diagon Alley."

Lily laughed. "Should've known! Didn't know why I asked. All right, to the Knight Bus it is then!"

Linking her arm with Hermione's, she dramatically looked at both sides of the street before raising her wand arm in the air as if hailing a cab. Hermione forced back a grin at the redhead's theatrics. Hermione wondered why nobody in her timeline had told her that Lily was a great drama queen. They had all said that James was the dramatic one, but she was now forced to reconsider.

At least she knew from where Harry had gotten his dramatic gene from.

Right then with a big _squeal_, a big violent purple double decker bus came to an abrupt stop in front of them. This wasn't Hermione's first time in the Knight Bus, but each ride felt like the first; dangerous and unpleasant. As Lily paid a few sickles to Ernie and Jim—the bus driver, they both stepped out of the bus and Hermione smiled as she felt the warm breeze and the trace of magic in the air. She knew it was the magical enchantments placed all around the Leaky Cauldron, making it invisible to the muggles.

"Come on then!" Lily smiled, pulling along Hermione as she entered the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione couldn't help the waves of nostalgia that crashed onto her as she entered the tiny, grubby looking pub. How long had it been since she had been here, looking as it should be and not like a pile of rubble? More than a year, she was sure. There was a low buzz of chatter all around her.

"Hello Miss Lily." Tom, the bartender, greeted pleasantly from behind the counter, bowing his head slightly. Lily grinned and said a cheery Hello, but noticed he was looking curiously at the girl next to her.

"And who's this? I don't think I've seen you around here before…"

"That's because I haven't been around here before." Hermione replied, smiling slightly at the barman. It really _had_ been too long.

"She's my cousin," Lily answered. "She's from, er—" Lily looked at her, blind panic seen in her eyes. Hermione kept her face blank at the look, bet she frowned inwardly. How could've she been so daft as to not discuss back up stories before leaving the house?! She cut in thinking quickly of the first place she could think of.

"—Australia."

Pause. "Right! Right, well, she's from Australia originally, but she wanted to transfer to Hogwarts for her sixth year, so she moved here." Lily hurriedly explained, clutching Hermione's hand a little tighter than necessary. Hermione forced a smile and hoped he would believe the less-than-thought-of story.

Tom raised an eyebrow good-naturedly. "Ah. So, you're a transfer student, eh? There's been a far few of those, let me tell'ya."

Lily laughed, though it sounded a little rigid to Hermione's ears. "Yes, well, we really ought to go to Diagon now…"

"Oh! Yes, of course! It was nice seeing you Miss Lily! You too, Miss Hermione!" he said, smiling and tipping an imaginary hat to their direction.

"It was nice to meet you too." Hermione said pleasantly with more than a bit of relief, glad the conversation ended. Taking hold of Lily's hand, she walked on forward, not looking back once.

"Merlin, that was close. We really should've talked about this before coming out." Lily said quietly, breathing out a sigh.

"Yes, we really should've."

Once reaching the courtyard, Lily went up to the brick wall and tapped a particular red brick three times in quick succession. The brick then quivered, the hole in the middle grew wider and wider and a second later, they were facing a large archway revealing cobbled streets that twisted and turned out of their sight. The unraveling of the brick wall never ceased to amaze Hermione and from the look on Lily's face, she knew Lily was also in awe a bit.

Stepping into Diagon Alley, she relished in the obvious magic in the air. It was everywhere. It was certainly refreshing to be in a magical zone again, instead of a normal one. People were bustling about, rushing on the cobblestone pavements, and entering various stores of all kinds. The tinkling of a bell whenever people entered a store filling the air, the light golden glow from the street lamps all around. Hermione couldn't really pinpoint a specific person; they were all just…there. With their pointed black hats and flowing robes. It was a bit overwhelming actually.

"Hermione, what're you standing there for? Let's go before it gets even more crowded." Lily said. "I think we should go to Gringotts first, don't you?"

"Yes, I agree. I need to see my vault, Professor Dumbledore said he'd filled the vault with a necessary amount, but I need to know exactly _what_ that amount is." Hermione exclaimed quietly, side-stepping to the left, just barely avoiding crashing into a plum woman muttering about 'steals and cheapskates'. It certainly was crowded.

"Right, then. Let's go"

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* * *

Soon enough, Hermione saw the imposing multi-storied white marble building, looming over all the other buildings, right at the intersection to Knockturn Alley. The wizarding bank of Britain, the safest place to be at, except perhaps Hogwarts. Yet, all Hermione could think about as she neared the building was about the time she, Harry and Ron broke into Gringotts and into the Lestrange's vault for the Hufflepuff cup. She couldn't believe it had literally taken place only a few months ago instead of a few days. Everything still felt fresh.

"I don't really like coming to Gringotts. The Goblins are particularly foul, don't you think?" Lily whispered, as if afraid to break the hushed silence in the enormous bank.

Hermione found herself nodding back. It was true, while she was all for equal rights for magical creatures, she still didn't forget how Griphook had tricked them and left them all to die in the Lestrange's vault and ran away with the Sword of Gryffindor that night. If it weren't for her quick thinking, they would've surely been dead. She never _would _forget.

"I have to admit, Goblins aren't the most likable of creatures."

Lily snorted quietly. "Isn't _that _an understatement."

Hermione smiled in amusement before walking down the long marble hallway, Lily in tow. It looked the same, no particular changes she could see; high desks filled with Goblins on either side, either talking in hushed tones or staring with their beady eyes, intricate designs and embellishments everywhere. The light catching on the piles of galleons on the tables as the creatures continued to write down the sums on a piece of parchment. Hermione didn't look at any of it, she only looked forward. She soon spotted Griphook at one of the counters and fought the urge to do something violent. Stopping right at the end table where some Goblins were seated, both Hermione and Lily waited until one of the Goblins looked their way.

A goblin with wire rimmed glasses over his long hooked nose looked over, his pointy teeth exposed as he talked.

"Yes, Miss?"

She heard Lily gulp and fought the urge to snicker a bit. She remembered Harry also being nervous around a goblin in his early years. Resisting, she answered in an even tone.

"I would like to enter my vault, please. My name is Hermione Granger."

"Do you have the key?" he asked in a low tone, his black beady eyes staring.

"Yes." She took out a gold key from her bag and placed it on the table. The goblin took the vault key with his long pointy fingers.

"Follow me."

Exchanging a look with Lily, they both followed the small goblin. Hermione was already used to the dark stone path lit only with lamps under the city leading to the hundreds of vaults, but it seemed Lily wasn't as Hermione saw her looking around in awe. Hermione was confused for a bit at that, but then realized the reason. Of course Lily wasn't used to this, because she never had a reason to. She only had to exchange muggle currency for wizarding currency; she never had to travel down to one of the vaults.

Hermione's vault wasn't very deep down. It was closer to the surface, more deeper than the Weasley vault but less than the Potter one, she guessed. When they reached, Hermione saw the number; Vault 432.

There weren't too many security measures for this vault, she realized. Just some standard locks, and a few magical enchantments. Once done, the goblin opened the vault and stepped aside. Hermione entered her vault and her jaw almost dropped in slight shock at the amount of galleons, sickles and knuts lying on the floor in piles. There must be at least three hundred galleons and more than five hundred sickles. The room shimmered with golds, silvers and bronzes. She'd never dreamed of having this much money, it was really unnecessary.

Lily whistled lowly, her green eyes glimmering with awe. "…_Well,_ the Professor sure doesn't hold back on his welcome, does he? "

Hermione had to laugh a little at the ludicrousness of it all.

"C'mon Hermione, pile up you money. We do have a lot of shopping to get done, you do realize?" Lily called out teasingly and swung her arm around Hermione's stiff shoulders. "I'm actually envious. But this just means you buy me a set of robes from _Madame Malkin's_. You can certainly afford it now."

Hermione laughed at that. Lily hated robes, she knew. She was just trying to diffuse the shock and for that she was thankful. "Right. You do understand that I'm not going to spend all this for shopping, don't you Lily?"

Lily sighed distractedly. "Well, a girl can dream."

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* * *

In the end, after they got out of Gringott's, they split up; Lily went to the _Slug & Jiggers Apothecary_, _Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment _and _Potage's Cauldron Shop_, to get everything for potions and other subjects for both of them after dropping Hermione at _Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions_ for school robes and dress robes. They decided they'd go for the wand in the end. After giving the measurements for the needed robes, the both met up by _Twilfitt and Tatting's, _a popular shop for robes and accessories. Popular, but dangerously expensive.

Which is why Hermione whined continuously when Lily dragged her into it.

"_But Lily_, this place is awfully expensive. I could be buying something useful instead of wasting my money on these needless items." Hermione said, her brows crinkling in distaste as she saw the price of a twinkling purple dress robe; fifty galleons for a measly dress robe seemed too much in Hermione's mind.

Lily rolled her eyes at the comment. "Hermione, this isn't _needless_, as you put it. This is actually vital. We'll buy all your other clothes from muggle London, but this we'll buy from here. Hogwarts always hosts dances and the like very often. What will you do when you don't even have a decent dress robe to wear?"

"Then I won't go."

Lily stepped back as if she'd been scalded. "_what?_"

"I won't…go?" Hermione said uncertainly, her statement sounding more like a question.

"How can you _not go?_ That just won't do. You know what? I'm not listening to you. You're buying one of these and that's final." Lily said, looking determined and absolute. "Now let's go find a perfect one."

"Lily, I just said I don't want to."

"Not listening."

"But I—"

"Shh."

Hermione growled under her breath as Lily browsed through racks upon racks of dress robes. Even Hermione couldn't deny that the dress robes looked beautiful. Some simple yet elegant, others intricate yet graceful. They were dresses practically every girl dreams of. Maybe she _could_ buy one, after all, there's no harm.

Realizing she just lost a petty argument about _clothes_, she sighed wearily. Running a hand through her wild curls, she called out, "Alright. Fine."

Lily beamed back, her face smug. "Perfect. I've already found three dresses for you to try on. Hurry up."

Hermione fought back a groan. Now she remembered why she hated clothes shopping. Because of people like Lily.

..

"Now was that so hard?" Lily asked, smiling happily. Incoherent grumbles were her answer. Hermione couldn't believe she just spent forty five galleons on a dress. Even her periwinkle dress from the Yule Ball didn't cost that much. Though, she had to admit, the dress was quite lovely. It was a light peach in color, with a slightly deep neckline accented with shimmering crystals, the hem of the dress reaching about an inch or two above her knees, fully covered till above her waist line in black lace. She had never owned something this short before, so she was a little apprehensive buying it, but Lily ordered her to 'suck it up and buy it'.

Just as they were about to leave the shop, the bell above the door jingled and two witches walked in. the first girl had wavy blonde hair till her waist and powder blue eyes. She was tall, maybe as tall as Hermione. She was dressed in a floaty light blue robe which brought out her eyes more. She was a classic beauty, one that made all others feel inferior just by looking. The other girl was a bit shorter and not as beautiful as the first one. She had dark hair till mid back and violet eyes that were narrowed, as if glaring. One thing they both had in common though, was the aristocratic features; straight upturned nose, high chin, arched eyebrows.

Hermione couldn't help but feel the first one was a tad familiar. She knew her hunches were almost always right, but she just couldn't place it. Suddenly, a hand grasped her elbow tightly. Lily, but she looked wary, her eyes rooted to the blonde witch.

"Hermione, let's get out of here. These are not people I want you to meet right now." She whispered, her voice low.

Hermione nodded, understanding through Lily's eyes the kind of people they were. The pure-blood supremists. She whole-heartedly agreed with Lily's statement; she was not in the mood for _that_ right now. Just then, powdered blue eyes fell on them. Hermione heard Lily sigh quietly as the blonde suddenly smirked with a perfectly arched eyebrow.

"Well, look who's here. Lily Evans, the Golden Gryffindor sweet heart, what a _pleasant_ surprise." She spoke, her voice smooth and low. Hermione raised her eyebrows, it sounded anything _but _pleasant.

"Hello Narcissa." Lily said. Hermione struggled to keep her face emotionless, but the name impacted her greatly. Narcissa Black. One of the people that was present in the room when she was tortured. One of the regular appearances in her recurring nightmares. Draco Malfoy's mother, the sister of her torturer—_that_ Narcissa.

"Who's that with you? I don't think I've ever seen her before." She said, her eyes falling on Hermione in curiosity.

"…she's my cousin. She's transferring to Hogwarts this term." Lily answered in a forced polite tone.

One pale eyebrow went up. "Oh, look at that. Sweet little _lily-flower_ is bringing another mudblood back with her." She smirked in disdain.

Suddenly, Hermione fought the irrational surge of anger welling up inside of her. She didn't need to be angry, if she reacted, then she would be playing right into her hands. And that was the worst case scenario. Lily was already clenching her fists in suppressed anger.

"Mudblood and proud." Hermione retorted back firmly with a raised eyebrow.

Now both eyebrows were raised, and the dark haired girl looked shocked. Even Lily was staring at her with a bit of wonder.

"You are daring, I'll give you that. No doubt a Gryffindor, this one." Suddenly, Narcissa smirked in what looked like slight approval. Hermione quickly became confused, why would she show even the _slightest_ affirmative feeling?

"No one has ever said that before, and with good reason I believe. I'd keep my mouth shut tight if I were you, mudblood. Don't want the wrong people hearing, do you?" Narcissa said, still having that infuriating smirk on her face.

"You better watch what you say, Black. I don't care if it's not in Hogwarts grounds, I could still hex you into oblivion." Lily snarled, her face twisted in fury.

Narcissa's face remained unchanged for the most part, but Hermione caught the slight hardness that appeared in her pale blue eyes. They had to leave _now_, before it turned into a downright confrontation.

"We have to go. Now." Hermione interrupted before Lily would say something she'd regret. She had been appraising the other witch with confused thoughts before making up her mind it _was _approval she saw on the young Black's face. Catching hold of Lily's elbow, she started pushing her to the exit.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Black. But next time, keep your derogatory comments to yourself, will you?" and with that, both muggle-born witches exited the shop.

It was silent on the walk to their next destination.

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* * *

Ollivander looked just the same as Hermione remembered, although his face had lesser wrinkles. He turned his eyes to the door as Hermione and Lily entered the cluttered shop, his face exposing curiosity. He smiled politely at them.

"Hello, Mr. Ollivander. I'm not sure if you remember me, I'm Lily Evans?" Lily said, smiling slightly.

"Yes, yes, I remember now. 10 ¼ inch willow and unicorn hair. Very good for charms. But might I ask your reason for coming now? Have you lost your wand, perchance?" He asked.

"Oh, no. we actually came in for a wand for my cousin here, Hermione." Lily explained, not hesitating at all during the introduction. Hermione was starting to feel a little bit inept now, standing there mute.

Ollivander's gaze went straight to Hermione. "Have we ever met before? I don't believe I've ever seen you. Unless I'm mistaken." His tone had turned a bit apologetic at the end.

"No, this is my first time here. My name is Hermione Granger. I'm originally from Australia, but I'm transferring to Hogwarts and I've seem to have my lost my wand in the journey." Hermione explained, thankful to not be standing idle any longer.

"A transfer? That's extremely rare…" he mumbled something incoherently under his breath, before turning towards Hermione again with a slight smile. Hermione felt the same giddiness she felt when she was a mere twelve year old before getting a wand when she saw the wand maker non-verbally summon his measuring tape.

"Extend your wand arm, please."

After measuring the distance from various parts of her body—ear to nose, shoulder to toe, forehead to forearm, eyes to knees— for what seemed like a long time even if it was just under a minute, he bustled away to find the perfect wand for her. She looked back at Lily who was grinning, her green eyes twinkling. Hermione couldn't help but smile back. She'll _finally_ have a wand again.

"Here you go. Unicorn hair, mahogany, eight inches. Good for Charms." He handed Hermione a short wand with intricate details. She had barely touched it when a couple of cases fell right off the shelf, the force of the fall making the dust hover everywhere.

Lily coughed and squinted, waving her hands to clear the air as Ollivander snatched the wand back hastily and walked behind the shelves. Hermione wished she could just tell him her wand, but she knew she had to wait it out. Hermione waited in anticipation when he brought another case.

"Dragon Heartstring, Cedar, 13 inches. Bendy."

This continued on for about five more wands, all bringing disastrous results as the first one. Hermione could feel lily's amused gaze on her, but Hermione was anything but amused. This was taking way too long. She was worried that anymore would bring the whole shop down. Wand number four had set a ratty drape on fire!

"You're quite the powerful one, aren't you? Usually strong reactions like these never happens." he asked rhetorically, his pale eyes bright through the dinginess of the shop.

Mr. Ollivander was now pacing between the shelves with an excited gleam in his pale eyes. It must've been quite long, she realized, for him without a challenge. And what better challenge than a time-travelling witch. "Not to worry dear, the perfect match is around here somewhere." He muttered lowly under his breath.

"Unicorn Hair, Ebony, 10 ¾ inches. Nice and Supple."

It wasn't her wand. She knew it wasn't. She didn't even get a chance to, though, as he yanked it away before she could. Hermione sighed irritably. This was taking a lot longer than it should. It had only taken less than five minutes to get her wand before.

"You must be really special if it's taking this many tries. What is it now, the eleventh?" Lily said quietly, startling Hermione from her annoyance. She hadn't noticed her move.

"Yes, it is." Hermione sighed. "I don't know why it's taking so long."

"Well, like I said, you must be a special sort." Lily teased, poking Hermione on the side and grinning slightly at her own statement. Hermione rolled her eyes half-heartedly but then considered it. Was it because of time? She knew most witches and wizards may have different wands in their lives because as they change, a different wand chooses them. So, is that what was happening? Had she changed drastically since she was a twelve year old? Or was it not because of change, or because of a bigger reason?

When Ollivander came back, he was looking at the case in his hands almost warily, something like wariness in his wise eyes. Then he looked at Hermione with an almost startling clarity, like a revelation. It put Hermione slightly on edge, even Lily was looking at the wand case in curiosity. He opened the case, and took the wand out, a wand that looked disturbingly familiar to Hermione.

"I wonder, if this might be it…Holly, Phoenix feather, 11 inches."

Hermione's eyes widened in shock. Of course she knew whose wand this was. How could she not? This was…Harry's wand. The brother wand of Voldemort. The wand of the Chosen One. This was not _her_ wand, of course not!

But when she held the dark wooded wand in her hand, a rush of warmth surged through her, from the tips of her fingers which were tingling to the tips of her toes. As if she was connecting with a long lost friend, and in a way, she was. Magnificent Gold sparks erupted from the tip of the wand as she swished the wand, illuminating the entire shop.

"Wonderful! I knew we'd find the one." Ollivander cried happily, "Phoenix feather is very rare, you might not know. It is very curious." He said lowly, staring right into Hermione's eyes.

Hermione felt partly numb. This was…all wrong. This wasn't her beloved wand, the wand that was like a best friend that had been with her from the first moment. Now her wand was the one Harry was supposed to get in the future. But, this wand was imperative against the Dark wizard…

"I expect to hear great things from you, Miss Granger."

Hermione nodded curtly, feeling like something hard and large was wedged in her throat.

As she and Lily exited the quaint wand shop, she saw from the corner of her eye, Mr. Ollivander taking out a quill and a piece of parchment. She realized she had just gotten the answer of her previous question—it _was_ because of a bigger reason.

Now she _knew_ for sure, the timeline she came from is definitely, undeniably, unquestionably no longer.

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* * *

"Now, wasn't that fun? I personally found it hilarious when you startled Mr. Ollivander with the small fire." Lily laughed, recalling that particular embarrassing moment. "What was that, your fifth try?"

"Hysterical." Hermione deadpanned. "The moment I found quite comical, though, was when I accidentally dropped the cases on your head and you squeaking in surprise. Now _that_ was a laugh." Hermione teased back, now finding some the results of the test wands comical.

"Yes, well, that is not to be mentioned ever again, as you know," Lily gave Hermione a pointed look, "now, where to go next? I think _Flourish and Blotts._ We need to buy our textbooks before it's too late."

Hermione's coffee eyes brightened. Flourish and blotts! Finally. It'd been too long. Once they entered the quaint bookstore, Hermione breathe in the old books smell, her favorite. The quietness, the shelves of books upon books—she had really missed this.

"C'mon Hermione, this way." Lily pulled on her hand. They picked out all the necessary books for Hogwarts. Hermione really wanted to check out some of the books relating to time-travel—but she knew she couldn't right now, at least not with Lily around. That would just be too suspicious.

"Hey Lily? I'm going to look at all the other books, all right?" Hermione said. At Lily's distracted nod, Hermione slipped away and walked to the other shelves and bookcases. She lingered around for a bit, touching the spines of some books while staring a bit longingly at some of the books that weren't there in her day. Silk covers, velvet ones, leather bound books s big, it nearly weighed her down. She adjusted the strap of the bag containing all her books on her shoulder, it didn't weigh at all, due to the feather weight charm, useful one that.

Walking around a bit more, she felt like she needed at least a few more books. What was she forgetting? One book…which one? Hermione's eyes brightened with realization; Hogwarts, a history! Of course! How could she ever get by without her own copy? And she was terribly curious about how the 1970's edition was like.

Quickly going to that section, she browsed before she finally found the thick book with the Scottish castle's picture on the cover. Opening the timeworn book, Hermione slipped a few wayward hairs behind her ear and felt content standing there and reading the words on the first page.

She knew she was quickly becoming immersed in the book when she started to feel like only the words mattered; usually whenever she's in this state she never notices anything, a fatal flaw but still there. So it was a surprise when she did register a voice through her haze.

A familiar voice, with…very familiar words.

"—ut Moooony! I don't _want_ these books, I've never _seen_ these books, I don't _need_ these books, ergo, I don't have to get these books! Why do you not understand? I'm pretty sure even _Minnie _would understand! I want to go to Gambol and Japes."

"I don't understand, because it's a pretty idiotic reasoning. And don't call her Minnie, it's disrespectful."

"Hey! Don't insult my reasoning! My so called stupid reasoning has gotten us out of some tiffs, I'll have you know!"

"Your so called reasoning was the one that got is in those tiffs in the first place, Prongs."

"Technicalities. You're blatantly disregarding my point here, Moony!"

"I really don't thi—"

Their voices were fading now, they probably walked away farther, but Hermione knew exactly who they were. The nicknames were pretty hard to miss. Who in history had the nicknames Moony and Prongs? Toffee eyes widened. She needed to get out of here; she wasn't ready to meet them! Not yet, not now!

Too soon…too unexpected. She could feel all the blood draining from her face. She'd already met Lily, she didn't want to meet another person who was responsible in shaping history this soon. But it wasn't even _that_ particular person that made her as nervous as she was. James Potter, while she _knew_ about him, she didn't _know_ him. Remus Lupin, on the other hand was a dear friend, a professor, a colleague in her past life. And right now, he was nothing but a stranger, and _that_ scared her the most.

Hastily shoving Hogwarts, a History into her book bag, she made a direct beeline towards Lily. Okay, now she needed a plan. A plan to get out of what would be a very surreal and hypothetically impossible meeting if she stayed here any longer. But what? If she went to Lily now and asked them to leave, she'd be suspicious and reluctant; after all, she was a book lover at heart too. And she couldn't exactly say _'I don't really want to meet my unborn best friend's father right now because he's dead in the future and seeing him would probably be too weird.' _

What will…! Of _course_. In this one situation, maybe, just maybe, Hermione could take advantage of the blinding hatred Lily has for one James Potter.

She still remembered Lily's rant about the one and only during one of their talks.

"_James Potter is a narcissistic, bullying, and good for nothing arrogant toe-rag whose one purpose in life is to frustrate the living hell out of me! He doesn't know the meaning of the word _no_! I mean, he _not only_ humiliates me, teases me, makes fun of me and pulls my leg in front of everyone, but he _also _plays these stupid practical jokes on me and my friends which are not even funny! And still he doesn't get a clue! I swear, he takes some sort of sick satisfaction in humiliating me. If I don't see his arrogant smug face in all of the holidays, I'll count it as a small mercy! Merlin knows I need it to deal with him and his band of Hooligans!"_

Hermione did think it was a bit harsh, especially comparing it Sirius's complete adoration for the same fellow in the future_-past-_life, but right now she didn't know much. She could only hope this would work.

"Er, Lily?"

"Hmmm?" lily hummed, leafing through an Arithmancy textbook in rapt attention, her eyes moving far too quickly.

"You remember when you told me about, er, James Potter?" Hermione tested uncertainly.

Lily snapped the book shut with a small thud, her green eyes blazing slightly. "Yes. Why?"

"I think he's here. Right now."

"What?" Lily exclaimed, "How? He _never_ comes here. And how do you know?"

"Well, for one, his friend called him James," Hermione lied, "and for another, he looked like how you described him to be-tall, messy and wearing glasses." That was also another lie, she didn't exactly see James Potter, just heard his voice. She was thankful she didn't though, she had heard the stories of how Harry was just like James in appearance, and she didn't think she was strong enough to bear that turmoil right now.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake! Two months! Is that a lot to ask for without seeing his annoying face?" Lily moaned out in despair, "well, come on, let's pay for our books and get out of here before he sees me." Lily clutched Hermione's hand and began dragging her to the counter.

After paying the needed galleons for their school books, Lily and Hermione both got out of the book store, Lily breathing out a sigh of relief. Hermione was a bit in shock about how much Lily genuinely disliked James. The annoyance was still shining in Lily's eyes. How in the world were they supposed to fall in love?

"…Lily? Are you alright?" Hermione asked quietly, still on edge from the whole almost-encounter. She didn't even want to _think _on how she'd handle this situation at Hogwarts. Maybe she wasn't as strong as she thought she was…but this was normal, wasn't it? She _had_ just gone decades into the past, of course she would be wary, wouldn't she…?

Hermione snapped out of her trance when a loud sigh was emitted right next to her. Turning her head, she saw Lily smiling again, though traces of irritation were still present. "I'm fine now, just needed a bit to calm down. I guess I'm a bit miffed I didn't get to stay at _Flourish and Blotts_ longer," she said, but then turned to Hermione in relief, "but it _is_ a good thing you told me about Potter being in there." Hermione inwardly winced when Lily spat out the name _Potter_ as if it was a bug she wanted to squish. "It's always better to get out while you can whenever he's around, believe me."

Hermione nodded slowly, choosing not to say anything about what was clearly an irritating topic for Lily. She chose to save this conversation for another date. "I'll take your word for it."

That seemed to satisfy Lily enough to get her smiling again. "Ice cream? _Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor's_ just around the corner. They have the best Ice Cream sundaes. I don't know what it is, but I'm almost certain they add some sort of special ingredient to make ice cream that heavenly."

Hermione smiled as Lily kept on chattering away, her hands moving around in big gestures. This had certainly been an unusual, surreal day. Unwanted encounters and almost meetings. It had been alright, she supposed. It could've been worse, she knew.

But she still felt the ache, the _loneliness _creeping in even through the tiniest cracks in her mental armor. She was now truly alone in a sense; her original world, her original life— al gone. Completely, utterly, irrevocably. And now she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, and it was almost too much to bear.

She wasn't strong like Harry; she wasn't as brave, or powerful…

She couldn't help but wonder, how long would she last in silence until she _breaks_?

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* * *

_Hogwarts—Headmaster's Office_

Dumbledore sighed wearily, rubbing the bridge of his nose to ward away the oncoming headache. This was turning out to be a massive conundrum from the start. He sat down slowly, all the energy seemingly draining out of him. Sighing again, he slid his half-moon spectacles up his nose and tried to focus clearly on the matters at hand. But he found he couldn't.

It seemed the appearance of the time-lost girl has put bigger plans into motion. Unperceived plans. No, Dumbledore thought contemplatively, this didn't start because of the girl, she just progressed the situation at hand; which can be a curse or a boon.

But based on Hermione's tale, what had happened in her world, what _may _have happened in this world, was too gruesome to even think about. Even if Hermione and her friends had succeeded in their endeavor, there was already too much loss, too many deaths.

However, this prophecy was unprecedented. He was fairly certain this never happened in her own time-line. Which means the time-line has already changed, in significant ways. His intense blue eyes then looked up and stared at a point in oblivion.

Dumbledore once again brought the recent memory of the prophecy to the forefront. He never expected to hear destiny being told when he went to the Divination classroom to run an errand. And it was clear as day that Elladora Flavia, the Divination Professor and the one who foretold the prophecy had no idea the she had just given the go for a forthcoming war. He non-verbally summoned his pensive to his desk, the pensive floating slightly.

Raising his Elder Wand with a steady, calm hand, he pointed the tip of the piece of magical wood to his temple. A thin, delicate, silvery membrane like substance was pulled out slowly and carefully left it to fall into the pensive he had summoned, the memory now forever preserved.

"_A traveling savior has arrived with invaluable knowledge…_

…_With the blood of impure, the one shall vanquish the Dark Lord as the traveler will cease to be in a copiously seamless world…if futile, the reign of ice will renew…a traveler has arrived…_

…_a time of sorrow will end."_

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**End notes—** so, how was it? good I hope. I know the prophecy is kind of, well, straight forward, but most of the prophecies in the Harry Potterverse were kinda straight forward. The reason I put in a prophecy was because Hermione is the savior now. And now that she got Voldemort's brother wand, it's kind of a given. If any doubts, please ask and I'll clarify. Now for another question. In the next chapter, do you want Hermione to meet before school starts and become friends with a) James b) Sirius or c) Snape? Though for option 'c', it won't really be friends, per say. No one can ever become friends with ol' Snape that fast, save for Lily.

Thank you, and hope you favorite/follow/ review! Especially the last option!


	4. Of Odd Acquaintances and King's Cross

**Disclaimer**-I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or any of the things from _that_ world. I simply own the plot.

**Pairings-** Hermione Granger/Sirius Black, Lily Evans/James Potter

**Rating-** T

**Note- **Some of the tips I used for time-travelling is from other fan fictions, such as _Flying High_ by _show me the stars_. Another reference I used I'd is _The Thief of Time_ by _Tinkwolfe_. I love both these stories a lot as these were the first SB/HG time fan fictions I'd read.

**Extra note- **yes, I am aware Narcissa is actually 4 years older and Andrmeda is also a few years older, but I am making them younger for the sake of them being students during Hermione's time. Seems to add more drama. On another note, the majority of the people voted for Snape. So…

**Thanks to-** Verdant Phoenix, brainsbeautyHG, breakable bird, gottaloveva, NorthernLights25, Ashies, amb520, krewella, jewelslover, write-this-song, Hanable-13, LK-HoGwArTs-hEaDgIrL, JenniferLupinBlack, JuliaLestrange, angstar54, dreamboat and the 2 guests**—for the reviews.**

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**The Revisionist**

Chapter 3: Of Odd Acquaintances and Platform 9¾

By

**fourthfireshadow**

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"_A traveling savior has arrived with invaluable knowledge…_

…_With the blood of impure, the one shall vanquish the Dark Lord as the traveler will cease to be in a copiously seamless world…if futile, the reign of ice will renew…a traveler has arrived…_

…_a time of sorrow will end."_

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Clothes-check. Books-check. Shoes-check. Uniform-check. More books-check. All necessary school equipment-check.

Hermione sighed in satisfaction as she gazed at her nearly filled to the brim trunk. Everything was organized and ready, no unnecessary items taking up extra space at all. Hermione frowned contemplatively, she did have a lot of books in the trunk though, and only some of it was textbooks. Most of the others were for light reading, even if the thickness suggests otherwise.

But she shook the thoughts of taking them out away; she only had that much space to keep this many books because she wasn't carrying unnecessary items other girls actually _pack_. So it was fine, mostly.

Now what else did she need? She gazed around the bedroom, her eyes falling on the already made trunk on Lily's bed. Lily was an even more of a meticulous packer than Hermione, which surprised her greatly. She had kept the trunk packed and ready a week ago. Hermione lamented over the fact her son would never get this particular habit from his mother; that boy was one of the most disorganized people she knew, save for Ron.

Shaking her head at the redhead's organized manner, her gaze then fell on the lowest rack of the bookshelf in their room. The lowest shelf was somewhat of a surprise for Hermione; it was filled to the end with Archie Comics. Organized according to the publishing dates, Lily was an avid fan of the comic. The comics were mostly popular in the States, she knew, which made it all the more surprising to see it in Lily's shelf. Even though Lily was more of a Literature and History and Philosophy reader, she had disclosed that reading those comics were kind of a guilty pleasure, in a way.

Making up her mind, she took about five comics at random from the shelf and tucked it into the corner of her trunk; sure it would come in handy sometime in the future.

What else? She felt like she was missing something important. Then it struck her like a bolt of lightning.

The Time-Turner.

The _Time-Turner! _While she knew it certainly wasn't a normal time-turner that could only go maximum eleven hour back into the past, she wasn't sure what else to call the device that brought her into a different life.

Carefully opening the drawer in the mahogany bedside table, she pulled the delicate gold chain out with careful fingers. Only then did she notice her fingers trembling. The fine chain shimmered gold in the sunlight playing in the room, though the actual device looked wrecked. The dainty hour glass still had the gold frame and structure, but one portion of the glass had cracked, baring a web of cracks. A blue glimmer caught Hermione's gaze; it was just for a moment, but it was enough. She quickly peered inside and saw about a small cluster of the blue crystals wedged in the corner, barely noticeable. Hermione drew back, releasing a breath. She had to take this with her; she couldn't exactly leave it lying around here. She had to keep it somewhere safe, with Dumbledore or somewhere.

Mind made, she tucked the chain between two articles of clothing. That way it wouldn't accidently break. Her packing all done, she decided to go out for a bit, get her mind cleared up before going to the platform and finally to Hogwarts. Braiding her honey colored hair messily and throwing on a long blue sleeved cardigan and jeans, she went down the stairs.

"Lily, where are you?" Hermione called out from the living room.

"Just a second," Lily called back from the kitchen and a moment later, she appeared wiping her hands on the material of her jeans, "what is it?"

"Well, I was just thinking we could go for a walk around the neighborhood…" she suggested, looking at Lily with hopeful eyes.

Lily looked at her with her emerald eyes for a moment before nodding. "…All right, let me just fix myself up and then we'll go. Just for a bit though, I have some errands to run."

"What fixing up do _you_ have to do? Your hair is always impeccable, unlike my bird's nest of a hair." Hermione mumbled bitterly.

Lily's laugh was heard as she climbed up the stairs, two at a time. "I don't know what you're complaining about. You're hair truly isn't as bad as you're making it out to be!" she said in a sing-song voice.

Hermione shook her head at the blatant lie and smiled sardonically. "Lying is unbecoming, Lils."

"Oh, Shut it." Lily said teasingly as she bound down the stairs in record time of two minutes, "I'll just tell mum we're going out or else she'll have a right fit." And after a minute, the two set off.

The cool autumn breeze smelled sweet and fresh, and the colored leaves gave the whole scene a picturesque beauty. Hermione smiled slightly before walking down the streets. The neighborhood was a pleasant one, with some kids playing here and there while their parents sat on the porch steps, talking and laughing. It was the kind of neighborhood where families host weekend barbeques, or have monthly get-togethers. The kind of neighborhood she imagined herself to be living in, in the future to be honest.

But with the quietness, came the troubling thoughts. While she had previously made up her mind to change the broken past, she had no clue as to how to go about it; it's not like she could research this in a library. Another thing was if she does change something historical, would something terrible happen as a consequence? She had no way of knowing if her whole presence was tampering with something not to be tampered with. But then again, she knew she had _already _changed things; meeting Lily and becoming a sort of pseudo permanent resident in the Evans household, meeting Narcissa and failing to keep herself under the radar, and of course, the wand—Harry's wand. The wand the ultimate clue.

And while all these had happened, nothing catastrophic had taken place yet. This brings her back to another thought; the device that brought her here in the first place. She was more than positive that it wasn't a normal time-turner at all; the sand were crystals and they glowed, plus it took her decades back instead of mere hours. Add in the fact that major things were changing from her being here, and it was shaping up to be quite a curious device indeed. She had a hunch she had created an alternate reality the moment Lily had spotted her.

"So, what was the real reason you wanted to go for this walk?" Lily spoke up from the sudden quietness. Startled, Hermione looked at her to see her gaze set straight forward.

"What are you talking about? I had no—"Hermione began to say.

"It's useless to talk your way out of this, I know you too well by now 'Mione." Lily gently chastised. Hermione couldn't help but feel both touched and a bit vexed at how well Lily knew her already, and how much she cared for her. Hermione ducked her head down a bit and kicked a pebble that was on the path, a small reluctant smile playing on her lips.

"Well?"

She looked up again to see Lily now looking directly at her, green eyes narrowed and concerned. Knowing there was no way to get out of it, she replied half-heartedly, "I guess…I wanted to get away for a bit, to think about all that's happened lately…it's hard to believe my life changed so drastically in such a short amount of time." Hermione said despondently, and then added in a quiet whisper not meant to be heard, "nothing will be the same now."

"…I don't know what to say to that," Lily voiced after a few long moments, "but I can promise you that…though your life did change, and even if a lot did happen, just remember that you're not alone, not really." She then smiled softly at Hermione, her eyes shining with kindness, "you've got mum, and dad, and then you've got me, and I can promise you that I will never ever leave you alone. Even when you get sick of me and actually want me too, I won't, because that's what best friends are there for, right?"

Hermione blinked, astonished. She could feel the stinging warmth beneath her eyes, indicating that she was going to cry once more if she didn't do something about it. Abruptly, Hermione hugged Lily, in both gratitude and appreciation. She felt Lily hugging her back, and after a moment Hermione stepped back.

She choked out a laugh, and looked into Lily's eyes and said sincerely, "I don't think I'll ever get sick of you, Lily."

"Well, let's hope not." Lily joked, "And that's my quota for being too emotional for my own good for today." From then, conversation flowed in a blur. They talked about anything and everything, and Hermione never felt closer to Lily than at that moment.

She suddenly looked up at her surrounding, unaware where their feet had unconsciously taken them. Rows and rows of decrepit brick houses stood before her, the windows dull and dusty. The whole street had the look of gloom over it, making it seem far harsher than the rest of the town.

"Where are we? I never noticed such a depressing part of the town before." Hermione wondered out loud. She only barely managed to catch the name Lily said, with an underlying edge.

"It's called Spinner's End."

Hermione turned her head fractionally to look at Lily's face and was confused to see a conflicted expression marring her face, her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. Turning her eyes back to the shady street, she pondered on its significance, but she didn't aquire any useful facts.

Feeling Lily's hand clutching hers loosely, she allowed Lily to pull her away, pivoting lightly on her feet and falling in step with the redhead. Hermione tucked a strand of her wavy hair behind her ear and looked up at the clear blue sky. It wasn't often she would get peace and quiet like this. She wished she could blank her mind at will, force all her speeding thoughts to stop and just rest for a while. But she knew that was wishful thinking. Stopping her thoughts would take a miracle, and stopping herself from thinking about how she wasn't even from this time would take even more than that.

"Hermione, let's go in there for a minute…" Lily interrupted the silence, cocking her head towards the direction of a park. Nodding in assent, she followed Lily into the park. She grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her to the swings, both witches sitting on separate swings. Hermione found it a little bit uncomfortable at first, the seats were a bit small for seventeen year olds, and she was a bit wary about her hair getting caught in the metal chains. But after a bit, she started to enjoy the slight silliness of lightly kicking the ground with her heels and swinging lightly. The breeze ruffling the strands of honey hair that had escaped its braid, the sun's rays emitting warmth. She felt a tidal wave of longing for a childhood she never had crash into her, a feeling of wistfulness and _What if's._

When had she last experienced this? When had she last played a child's game? When had she lost her childhood? Her innocence? Maybe it was way back in her early muggle days; she never had any friends, not really—she didn't have anyone to play with. And of course then came along Harry and Ron when she was just a child of twelve, she supposed it happened then; after all, no one could retain all of their childhood if they were looking for ways to kill a Dark Lord. And now this.

Hermione resisted the urge to snort; it was a wonder she even remained sane all these years, wasn't it?

A sigh from her side broke her train of thought. Looking to the side, she saw Lily was also deep in thought, a frown on her pale lips, her eyebrows puckered. Her deep red hair flying lightly around her face, it suddenly occurred to Hermione that she had never, not even once, asked Lily about her life willingly yet. It had always been Lily chattering on about the trivial things in her lie to Hermione without any question or even an encouraging response from her sometimes.

Feeling a ball of guilt grow in the pit of her stomach in being so self-centered, she figured now was a good time as any. Hermione was willing to bet Lily was this troubled because of the brief flash of the mysterious ragged Spinner's End.

"…Lily? Care to tell me what the matter is?" Hermione asked softly. Lily looked disconcerted, her eyes snapping open and darting to Hermione.

"What? Nothing's the matter, I—"

"…it's useless to talk your way out of this. I know you too well by know, Lils." Hermione said, a smile playing on her lips as she recounted the same words Lily had told her before.

Her eyes wide, Lily let out a surprised chuckle and shook her head, her red hair swaying with the motion. "I should've known those words would come back to bite me in the arse," Lily laughed again, "but I suppose it's true for the both of us, huh?"

"Exactly. Now, are you going to tell me what the problem is between you and Spinner's End?" Hermione asked bluntly.

Lily looked surprised yet again, but this time her expression was a mixture of both surprise and embarrassment. A light shade of pink spread across her pale cheeks, but it didn't clash with her hair the way it happens with the Weasley's, rather it created a beautiful picture. She now saw what Harry's father must've seen from the beginning to go after her all these years. The thought brought a smile.

"…erm, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised you spotted that." Lily mumbled, "It's just, it's a bit complicated, really…"

"Lily," Hermione interrupted gently but firmly, "you have done so much for me, so much I don't even know how to _begin_ to thank you. The _least _I could do is listen to you."

Lily smiled in gratitude, "…Thank you." She took a few moments to gather herself before she finally began speaking, her eyes looking forward at the group of kids playing in the grass.

"…I had a best friend who used to live there, he still does but now…everything's different…" she whispered into the breeze.

Hermione kept silent, waiting patiently for Lily to finish whatever she had to say. She thought she had an inkling of the person Lily was mentioning here, but she wasn't fully sure yet. All she knew was that Lily was still broken up about it, anyone could tell just from her expression.

"We used to be the bestest of friends, we used to do _everything_ together, inseparable really. We actually met here for the first time, ironic as that is. He was the one who told me I was a witch when he saw, or spied, me doing accidental magic. Since he lived in Spinner's End, it was just walking distance between our houses, so whenever the holidays come, we'd always meet up and do whatever we wanted," she said lowly, "but that all changed this year."

Abruptly, her head snapped up to look at Hermione, whose light brown eyes were staring back at her softly, "See, he's a Slytherin. And me being a Gryffindor, there was always a strain when we were in Hogwarts. We never used to let it bother us, but in the recent years, it became too noticeable. When we came back here, we never used to talk about that, and I suppose that was where the problem was…

"I've already told you all about the Marauders. I don't know why, but they—especially Potter and Black, used to bully him endlessly, and I always used to defend him from them whenever I could. He hates them, as in truly _hates_ them and always warned me to stay away from them, but he never seemed to understand that I never wanted to in the first place. He always had this—this _delusion_ that I would choose those bullies over him. I hated the people he hung out with, too, but I had a legitimate reason, unlike him. They were the type of people who cared about blood status, people into the Dark Arts, those were the type of people you _just knew_ would grow up to be Death Eaters." Lily was whispering by now, her eyes glittering with confusion and sadness. Hermione was now sure who she was talking about, she had only heard snippets about the story from Harry, but it was enough to piece the clues in. she truly felt the sympathy and the sadness at seeing Lily—sweet, crazy, brave Lily in this state, like she had no idea how it had come to this conclusion.

Hermione subtly moved her eyes to the side she thought she heard some rustling. She couldn't see anything, she couldn't be entirely sure. Thinking it best to leave it alone for now, she turned back to Lily to see her hands clutching at the chains with a death grip, her knuckles white.

"One day, when I was sitting with my dorm mates near the Black Lake, I saw something was happening were the Marauders were," here Lily stared at the ground as she recounted what was clearly a painful memory, "They were tormenting him, Potter and Black, in front of everyone. I was blind with rage, thinking how those bullies dare do something like this in front of everyone. But when I went to defend him from them…he clearly said, in front of everyone, _I don't need help from filthy little mudbloods like her._ Potter was furious, but I didn't care. I was numb, I just—I just couldn't believe he would actually say that, when he had actually lived half his life like a muggle…but apparently…" Lily's voice broke off as she bit her lip.

Hermione felt her eyes widen when she heard what actually happened; while she knew this did happen from Harry, she didn't realize how broken up Lily actually was over it. She clearly felt betrayed and rightly so; she couldn't imagine how she would actually feel if either Harry or Ron ever called her the derogatory word, but she knew it would certainly be bloody painful. Her eyes once again darted to the side but then decided to ask the one thing she noticed Lily failed to mention.

"Lily, what was his name?"

Lily looked startled, as if she never knew she hadn't uttered his name a single time. "Oh, his name was Severus Snape."

This time, Hermione knew she definitely heard a faint shifting noise from her side. Ignoring that for a moment, she took in Lily's expression; a mixture of anger, confusion and hurt. "Well, based on what you just said…am I right in thinking you clearly want him back as your best friend? Hermione asked gently, knowing she was approaching sensitive territory. It was a bit surreal to know two of her role models—Sirius and Remus—were actually bullies in their youth, more Sirius than Remus, nevertheless.

Lily sniffed. "It doesn't matter what I want, 'Mione. Our friendship ended the day he called me that word and chose his Slytherin friends over me."

"…well, do you imagine maybe he was just overwhelmed at the moment?"

Lily looked both curious and wary, "…what?"

"You said he was being tormented by Potter and Black, in front of many students, and in front of you. Maybe he felt embarrassed and overwhelmed when you defended him in front of everyone." Hermione said, fully expecting Lily's negative reaction; she knew the girl too well by now, and knew how she'd react but it needed to be said. She didn't exactly know why she was defending _Snape_ right now—the same Snape that tried to make her and her friends life as miserable as possible—but she knew that Snape truly regretted this one moment for the rest of his life. It was his biggest mistake, and for a person to die a hero's death with such a regretful life—the worst kind, she felt she owed it to him.

Lily looked expectantly angry, if the furious scowl on her face was any indication. "Why are you defending him? You don't even know the extent of the things he's done to me! It didn't matter if he was overwhelmed or whatnot, he shouldn't have called the only true friend he had such a thing. Now he's lost that as well." She huffed in anger before sighing slowly, all the anger deflating out of her, resting her head lightly on the metal chain, closing her eyes.

Hermione immediately felt chastised, but she didn't regret speaking her mind. "I'm sorry, Lils, I didn't mean to say you weren't right in being angry; your anger is rightly justified. I just meant to say…to look at the situation from his perspective. After all, isn't a person's first friend one of the most special?"

Lily just looked at her with those green eyes of hers, but didn't say anything. Giving her a small smile though it seemed a bit strained, she said "I don't know about you 'Mione, but I'm knackered after all this talk. I'm going to do those errands and go back home, you alright alone?"

Hermione nodded, knowing Lily needed some time alone to think things through. "Yeah, I'll be alright. Go, its fine."

With a final smile, she turned with a swish of her glinting red hair and walked off, her outline growing smaller and smaller. Once her form was far enough, she turned to where all the rustling noises came from.

"You can come out now, you realize. She's gone." Hermione called out from her swing.

More rustling, then a figure appeared from the bushes and trees. She could make out more about the person as he came nearer. He was wearing long black pants that came to an end near his ankles, clearly too short on him, and a large black coat, with a brown undershirt. But how she really came to know who this person was was because of the shoulder length stringy black hair framing his face that looked familiar to her. Of course she knew who _this _was. His face was partially hidden by the shadows, only splotches of pale skin could be seen from the small distance.

The sixteen year old Severus Snape was a lot different than what she imagined. For one, his small and old clothes didn't fit the image she had of him in her mind whatsoever. For another, his face was different; softer, more open than his older years, but it was his eyes that caught her attention—dark and expressive, at least for that moment. Despair and longing was clearly etched in them, almost as if silently reaching out to the girl that just left. He still had the hooked nose, though less noticeable and his shoulders were hunched in, almost as if wanting to crawl into himself.

It was only for a moment, a split second, then his eyes became guarded, the walls forming back—his dark eyes showing the familiar blankness; not done as perfectly as he would've as the Snape she knew, but that just highlighted how different, how young and uncorrupt this Severus Snape the Hogwarts student was to Severus Snape the Potions Master.

"…Am I right in assuming you're the same person she was talking about just now?" Hermione asked, looking straight into his eyes; a feat she wouldn't have done if she was actually talking to the Snape she knew.

He looked startled as he looked at her from the direction he was actually looking at, as if finally registering her presence. Hermione couldn't quite get over the feeling of astonishment over how different he was—no sneering, no looks of contempt, just a look of surprise.

"…Yes." A low voice answered her after a moment. He looked tense, his stance rigid as he clenched his fists subtly, but Hermione caught it. He looked dark, dressed fully in black, but the one thing that stood out to her was that he was dressed like a muggle.

Hermione nodded and looked away; she didn't want to make him uncomfortable with her staring.

"…How exactly do you know…Lily?" he asked with slight hesitance. His eyes bore into hers as she opened her mouth to answer.

"I'm a distant cousin of Lily's from Australia. I'm transferring to Hogwarts this year, so I'm staying at her house."

Snape looked a little surprised at the information and looked at her curiously for a moment. " A transfer? That's almost unheard of." He said, confused.

"Yes, I know, but they made an exception for me, I suppose." She answered airily, kicking her feet on the ground and lightly swaying.

A dark eyebrow rose. "Why you?"

"That's another story for another time, I believe," Hermione answered, looking at the younger potions master and her lips lifted at the corner in amusement, "when we haven't even introduced ourselves properly to each other, don't you think?"

Snape looked a bit abashed at that— A never before seen expression on his face— and extended his right arm slowly, almost as if anxious she would reject it, and introduced himself albeit a bit shyly, "Severus Snape."

Now smiling more widely to quell his fears and grabbed his pale hand in a brief handshake, "Hermione Granger."

Looking thoroughly uncomfortable and feeling more than a bit shocked by Hermione's eagerness, he retracted his hand and went to stand in the shadows of a tree, partially covered. Not feeling slighted, she looked at his form in utmost curiosity. Hermione felt a little nosy for intruding into the personal problems between Lily and Snape, but Lily was quickly turning into one of her most precious people, and she'd be damned if she didn't do _something_. She couldn't erase what had happened, but she could try her best to make it right.

"…You really miss her, don't you?"

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* * *

Severus was thoroughly baffled at this girl's audacity to ask such a question to him, practically a stranger—but not only a stranger, but a stranger she's heard such horrible things about. He tried to keep his face carefully blank though, not wanting to show any moment of vulnerability to this person.

But from the knowing glint in her caramel eyes, Severus sensed she already knew his feeling on the topic, which was a bit ludicrous if he thought about it but he was also aware of his little control over anything related to Lily Evans. Of course he bloody missed her, every day. She was his first friend, his first love—even if it was buried deep and unrequited. He stifled the urge to sigh in frustration—he didn't even know why he actually appeared in front of her or why he had even introduced himself.

He guessed it was partly curiosity; this sudden appearance of a person he had never seen before, and maybe even because of the haze his mental state was in when he heard how Lily truly felt, how hard this really was for her. In school, she never gave any leeway about her feelings, not with her friends or alone. This just made Severus hate himself all the more.

"I suppose you don't really have to answer if it requires so much contemplation." The girl—Hermione, he reminded himself—said, looking at him with those all too knowing eyes. "We don't have to talk about it then, after all, you must be thinking why you should divulge your feeling on this to a stranger, am I right?"

Severus felt himself stare at the girl on the swings with a bit of curiousness, and more than a little wariness. What was he supposed to say? The girl was right, but he just couldn't voice it out, not used to being in such a situation before. Suddenly he felt uneasy; he had practically bared most of his emotions in a rare moment of vulnerability to her. In some way, he felt the same as he did when he first met Lily—curiosity about a new person, hope for a friend and relief that there was no judging present, though he would never admit that to anyone.

"I figure I must be. So, let's close this topic, I apologize for even bringing it up." She said sincerely, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear looking a bit abashed.

"…it's fine. Really." He said slowly, adding the last bit when he saw her looking up at him doubtfully. And he realized, it was fine, at least she didn't pry more and had the common decency to stop—that was already more than most people.

"I'm glad then." She said, before she looked down, though he could see the myriad of emotions crossing her face in an instant; he could make out a few—from hesitance to acceptance to determination. Then she asked the most mundane question ever.

"So, what's _your_ favorite subject in Hogwarts?"

"Potions." He said easily. She looked unsurprised at the answer but her eyes lit up a bit.

"Potions is good, but mine would have to be Arithamancy."

From there, conversation flowed surprisingly easily, never breaching into any topics that were deemed personal. Severus couldn't help but feel a bit enthusiastic—when was the last time he had such a stimulating conversation? Not since Lily, that he was sure of. No one in Slytherin House even bothered with conversation, as for them, every word and every silence meant something different; there were never any useless frivolous talks.

He never even realized the time passing.

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* * *

Finally the day had come—the first day of the new Hogwarts year. Hermione naturally couldn't sleep all night, tossing and turning throughout while vivid images of people, places, of past memories flashed beneath her eyelids. In the end, she just gave up trying to achieve something useless. Instead, she stared up at the ceiling, splotches of glowing green shaped like comets and stars stuck on irregularly standing out in the darkness of the room, save for the faint light of the moon from the open windows, only Lily's steady breathing and the small insignificant sounds of dogs barking and cars starting up accompanying her.

Hermione took a gasping breath at the realization that she was going to be in Hogwarts the next day—the one place she felt as she truly belonged in—after what seemed like a year to her, and not even in her own time. Instead, she'd be going to a new, or rather older Hogwarts, complete with different people, people she'd never met but only heard of.

She didn't even want to know how she's react to seeing the people she _did _know—

She still couldn't believe she had met Snape already. He was just so different, so open. She knew this Snape wasn't the bitter, resentful she had known her whole life, but rather a less guarded, less burdened one. And she surprised herself when she thought of how she wanted to keep him that way. At first she didn't know why she wanted to salvage Lily and Snape's friendship, but it was clear after her conversation with him; she wanted him to not end up hating his life because of this one mistake and Lily's pride. She couldn't—wouldn't—allow that.

Hermione rolled her honey eyes as she realized she had just added another thing to her to-do-list. She couldn't help but thinking Harry had somehow passed his irritating hero-complex onto her; first saving the world and now this. What next? Bring James and Lily together? A brief grin flitted on her lips at the thought.

She started a little as she took in the fact that she had actually made light of the realistically dark mission without feeling pessimistic. She was one step closer to healing, she thought dryly.

Raising her head slightly, she looked at the clock on the table between hers and Lily's beds—5:03 blinked in bright red. Recognizing her inability to fall asleep, she adjusted her tank top and pajama bottoms before heading downstairs quietly for a glass of water.

She hadn't expected to see Mrs. Evans sitting on the coffee table as she entered the living room. She was hunched over the table, scribbling lightly on a piece of paper, before scratching out the line written and sighing, leaning back against the chair.

"Having trouble with something, Mrs. Evans?" Hermione asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the early morning.

Mrs. Evans started a bit as she looked up to find the source of the sound, "oh, Hermione! You startled me, and not really, just a bit of office paperwork I was too lazy to do earlier." She said smiling, but then looked at her in curiosity, "you never get up this early. Is it because of the excitement of finally getting out of here and going to Hogwarts?"

"Well, partly because of Hogwarts," Hermione said slowly, sitting down on a chair adjacent to hers, "but it's mostly nerves. I'm going to be a transfer student, which is extremely rare." she sighed—she realized she'd been doing that a lot lately—"…I don't fit in easily, and I'm a bit afraid I won't."

Mrs. Evans looked at her in concern and sympathy, her green eyes blazing. "Dear, you are…one of the _bravest people_ I have ever met. I've never met someone who has gone through…such a _devastating_ tragedy such as yourself and come out of it as strong as you have." She said softly.

"If you can conquer that as bravely as you did, then this should be a walk in the park for you, shouldn't it?" she asked, and patted Hermione's cheek twice.

Hermione lowered her eyes in gratitude, knowing this lady would never know how much that meant to her. It was something her mother would have said, and this just brought all those memories rushing back. She needed to hear that.

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice clogged with emotion, "it means a lot for you to say that, especially to a person who's relatively still a stranger."

"What are you on about?" Mrs. Evans asked, looking quite surprised, "you don't really believe we still think of you as a stranger do you? Hermione, you must know that Richard and I consider you as one of us now, the same as Lily and petunia, not a stranger. Don't ever doubt that for a second." She finished by nodding in assurance. Her face then softened considerably when she saw Hermione's astonished face.

"Now on that note, I also wanted to ask you this—are you coming home for Christmas? Richard and I would absolutely love it if you did! I'm asking you know because I really don't know how to contact you in Hogwarts, I'm deathly afraid of owls, I never go near those blasted birds. They're just eerie when they stare non-stop. I'd have nightmares just thinking about it. " She said, cringing at the mention of the birds, "I usually just order Richard to write the letters, but even that's few and far in between."

Despite the topic, Hermione felt a small smile of amusement pull at the corner of her lips.

"Ah, there's the smile I've been waiting to see." She smiled, her eyes shining in satisfaction. "So, what'd you say? I personally insist you do though, you are practically one of us, remember?"

"I'd…be really happy to, Mrs. Evans." Hermione said, a little bit of the previous sadness diminishing.

"Now really! How many times do I have to say, dear? It's Rachel and Richard. None of this Mr and Mrs Nonsense. Even if I'm not as young as I used to be, I still don't liked to be called in such titles. You can even call us Mum and Dad if you want." Mrs. Evans added cheekily, trying to lighten the situation.

Hermione didn't see it in that way, though. The hole in her heart—of the realization that she would never be with her parents, talk to her parent or even see her parents—would never really go away. Right now, they would just be two strangers; Christopher Granger and Holly Cooper, never to meet for few years. No one could really understand the emotional turmoil involved when taking in the fact that your parents have never even officially met yet; it's the ultimate realization you're not in your own time.

But even if the scar can never truly go away, the wound could be healed. And this was one step closer to that.

Breathing out a laugh, Hermione said two words to a different person, but with the same emotional meaning to her, or at least getting closer to it.

"…Thanks Mum."

Her answering look of surprise and soft smile were well worth it too.

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* * *

"Did you pack everything? Lily stresses, "All the things you'd need? You haven't forgotten anything have you? Have _I_ forgotten anything? Oh God, where's Pandora? Oh Sweet Circe!"

Hermione smirked, unable to contain her enjoyment at her friend's overreaction. Pandora was Lily's owl—a beautiful tawny owl with rustic looking feathers and big eyes.

"Lils, relax. You have everything, remember? You finished packing weeks ago and Pandora is safe in her cage which is right now in the car with your dad. I have everything too. We're good to go" Hermione says slowly, so that it enters Lily's frazzled head.

"Oh, ok. Right." Lily says unconvincingly, nodding her head slowly.

"C'mon ladies, let's go! Don't want to miss the train, now do we?" Richard called out from outside the house, making Lily almost hyperventilate again.

"Easy Lily, don't stress, alright? C'mon." Hermione said, her voice veiled with amusement as she realized _she_ was the one ordering someone _not to stress,_ and picked up her trunks and started pulling them out to the car. Richard gave her a smile before loading the trunks to the back of the car. After a moment, Lily was at her side.

"I'm sorry for stressing out so much but it's happened so often it's almost become a ritual, even mum and dad expect it now," Lily said dryly, "but enough about my neurotic problems, how are you feeling?"

Hermione shrugged, "I'm fine."

At Lily's pointed stare, she caved. "Oh, fine. I am a little nervous about being the new person, who wouldn't be? But I am rather excited too."

Lily nodded, satisfied with the answer. "That's expected. But don't worry; I'm going to be with you every step of the way, so you'll at least have one friend even if you humiliate yourself in front of the entire population of Hogwarts." She teased, grinning no doubt at the mental picture.

"Gee, thanks," Hermione replied dryly, but then a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes, "but every step of the way? But then that means James Potter will be running behind me to ask about you! Why subject me to that torture, eh Lils?"

Lily groaned aloud. "Why must you bring his name into almost _every _conversation?"

Hermione smirked. "Because it's fun to rile you up."

"Besides, you won't be the only person I know in Hogwarts; Severus will be there as well." She glanced sideways at Lily to see her lips pursed and her eyes slightly narrowed. It clearly conveyed her silent frustration over her small tentative friendship with one Severus Snape. But Hermione has been known to be stubborn to a fault and no matter how many times Lily asked her to break of whatever friendship they had, she would never budge unless she had a logical reason to.

Fortunately, Rachel came bustling out through the front door right at that moment, breaking off the slightly tensed silence between them. Hermione let out a sigh at getting out of a direct confrontation again and the unfairness of the situation—here she was trying to repair one of the greatest friendships and she was getting back displeasure for it. Sometimes she hated her Gryffindor-ness, it put her in too many tight situations.

After finally loading up everything and confirming her new-familiar-wand was tucked in safely in her boot, the group of four sans Petunia –who was _visiting a friend—_ climbed into the blue Sedan and they drove off to the train station. Hermione tried to quell the butterflies—more like Cornish pixies—in her stomach at the thought of finally getting closer to the side of the world, the part of her she reveled in.

Finally, King's Cross Station cane into her view through the windows. It was only half past ten, but already Lily started becoming nervous, fidgeting. Richard loaded both their trunks and the animal cage onto a cart and wheeled it into the station with Rachel next to him. Lily and Hermione walked a few paces back, their hands joined. There were many people all around, but she couldn't really say which of them were actually magical. Hermione felt like a little first year again, the excitement all charging back.

They all stopped between the platforms with the huge plastic numbers of nine and ten over them. Richard smiled jovially at the two teenage witches, "well girls, looks like this is where magic takes over."

"Cheesy, dad. Please never say that again." Lily winced in humor, but then smiled widely and hugged him tightly; Hermione watched them for a moment, feeling a wave of longing crash onto her before looking up and meeting the soft, understanding green eyes of Rachel. She didn't say anything, but simply raised both her arms in a silent invitation to Hermione.

Walking two steps forward, she fell into the motherly embrace quickly and hugged the woman back.

"Thank you for everything." Hermione whispered before stepping back. To her surprise, the older woman had tears in her eyes, making her green eyes appear brighter and shiny.

"No need to thank me, dear. You just be careful, you hear? But more importantly, have fun Hermione." She said, patting her cheek fondly. Hermione barely nodded before Lily flung herself onto her mother, tears also present in her eyes as she said goodbye.

Hermione then turned to the other person of the family. Richard and her had never really gotten to know each other properly or even had a full blown conversation, but she always felt a level of comfort and safety around him that made it easy for her to relax around him, even if some awkwardness lingered. But she was still surprised when she found herself in yet again another embrace.

"Please take care of Lily." He whispered.

Her eyes widened at the implication—he trusted her to look after and keep Lily safe. She found herself nodding as she pulled back and stared at him evenly. "Of course I will, and I would've even if you hadn't asked me of that Richard."

Richard's face broke out into a smile. "I know. I also want you to know it's not only Lily you have to look after, but yourself as well, you realize?"

Hermione nodded, her eyes light and her smirk wide.

"Then I'm glad."

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* * *

Hermione almost cried as she stepped on Platform 9 ¾ again—she had really thought she never would again. The scarlet steam engine brought back so many pleasant memories to Hermione—disregarding the whole dementors experience, of course. The sign above stating _Hogwarts Express—11 o'clock_ was still the same and the platform had the number 9 ¾ on it. The smoke billowing out, covering the air around them in a thin film of grey, cats and owls in various animal carriers, students hugging their parents, parents crying for the departure of first-years, robes flapping around as students tried to find good compartments—she relaxed at the familiarity of it all. In a split second, Lily came in through the barrier carrying her owl carrier.

"Well? How does it look?" Lily asked excitedly.

"…Something like home." Hermione finally responded, earning a curious look from Lily.

"Good then. Let's go find a compartment before it's all taken—I do not fancy sitting with any Slytherins, or God forbid, the _Marauders_." Lily said in distaste, her lips curving to a scowl at the thought. "And I'll show you our year mates if I see them."

Shaking her head in amusement, Hermione followed Lily with her trunk as she searched for an empty compartment.

She wrinkled her nose in annoyance as Lily's long hair whipped her face—this must've been what Ron felt like when she had done the same thing, she thought. Looking to where Lily was pointing, she saw a brunette girl of average height and wearing glasses. It looked like she had some difficulty maneuvering her trunk with the two books she had under hand, but then another girl—black hair, blue eyes, tall and stunningly pretty—came over and took the two books under her arm and then hugged the spectacled girl.

"The one with the glasses is Emmeline Vance and the other one is Dorcas Meadows. They're both Ravenclaws—both very smart, but Emmeline is kind of the star pupil of Ravenclaw House. They're best friends, and they're also friends of mine, but we're not very close." Lily said, frowning thoughtfully at the last bit, as if thinking _why is that?_

But for Hermione, those names sparked something in her brain. She had heard of them, she remembered. She could recall Emmeline and Dorcas were both part of the Order. She had met Emmeline once during a meeting but she had never met Dorcas as she'd been killed shortly after joining during the first war with Voldemort.

Before she could carry on with her thought process, Lily spoke.

"C'mon 'Mione. Walk and look, multitask. Don't just stand there gaping at them. It's unattractive." Lily stage-whispered, her eyes filled with mirth. Hermione felt her face becoming hot and started walking ahead of Lily, her snickering right behind her.

"Oh wait, another pair of people," Lily said pointing to a corner. Hermione followed her eyes yet again to where she was pointing, this time on two boys. The tall one was quite handsome, she noted half-heartedly, with shaggy brown hair and pale eyes. The other one was not quite handsome, he looked thick and burly, but there was a way they looked around and at the other students—as if they were like the scum on the bottom of his shoe—that put her teeth on edge.

"The tall one is Evan Rosier and the thick looking one is Rodolphus Lestarnge. They're both Slytherin and the most pig-headed bigots I've ever met, which is not really surprising," Lily spoke humorlessly, "they both, Avery, Wilkes and Mulciber take up most of that category. I showed them to you so you'll know who to avoid in the future. They're right awful to muggle-borns and blood traitors. Sometimes, also to the half-bloods. They're suspected to be You-Know-Who's followers and rightly so. Mostly everyone tries to stay out of their way, except for the particularly brave ones."

Of course Hermione knew who the Lestranges were; they were also active participants of the war for the Dark side. She briefly checked all the information she had of them—Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange were considered to be among Voldemort's most loyal and trusted Death Eaters. They, along with Rodolphus's wife, Bellatrix, were sentenced to fourteen years in Azkaban for the torture of Alice and Frank Longbottom to the point of insanity.

She willed herself to forget the fact that this was one of the people involved in the torture of Neville's parents for now and focus on the present, it wouldn't do any good if she got irrationally angry; after all, he hasn't committed the crime _yet._

She didn't know much about Evan Rosier, only that he died shortly after the defeat of Voldemort the first time.

"Do you include yourself in those particular few?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow, peering into the emerald eyes, partly in curiosity and partly in acceptance.

"Well, I think I can count myself as brave when I give those bullies monthly detentions, don't you?" Lily said with an impish smile.

Hermione chuckled. "Abusing your prefectorial duties. Brilliant."

Lily huffed. "They deserve it. Especially because of how they treat muggle-borns." There was a spark blazing in her green eyes as she said this.

"…I take it you've unfortunately been a victim to this?" Hermione asked quietly.

Lily shook her head slowly and kept on walking. "More than once. That's why I wanted to warn you."

Hermione kept quiet and followed the morose redhead, but her eyes strayed to them more than once. She finally looked away when she accidently caught Rosier's pale blue eyes. She had to stay under the radar for now; she didn't want any _unnecessary _attention from the wrong people. But then her attention turned to the ruckus happening on the platform.

_"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty, Hogwarts,_

TEACH. US. SOMETHING. PLEASE!

_Whether we be old and bald,_

_Or young with scabby knees!"_

Hermione raised a surprised eyebrow while Lily groaned loudly, her eyes closing in frustration.

"Ugh! Those no good idiots are on it again! Why am I not surprised?" Lily grumbled, "Right in the morning too! No semblance for peace, I swear…"

Hermione froze, her hands tightening their grip on the cart. She knew who Lily meant—the Marauders. She couldn't keep in the small laugh at their loud antics though, this was certainly different. She couldn't see them from her position; also, many students were now crowding around. She was glad she couldn't though; she wanted some more time to prepare before seeing them. But Lily's expressions regarding them were always entertaining.

"Oi, Prongs! I think I see Evans over there!"

"What? Where?!"

Both the witches eyes widened at the loud exclamation—Lily's with despair and annoyance and Hermione's with surprise and alertness.

"Uh, I'm going to go find a compartment, okay?" Hermione piped, before taking the cart.

Lily's eyes widened in panic, "What? No! Don't leave me alone with him! _Hermione_!"

"Sorry Lils!" Hermione called from her shoulder before walking away quickly, pushing the cart along with her. She did feel sorry for leaving Lily—then again, not really, she mused—but her reason was far more necessary than her. Besides, she was giving them free alone time, which was necessary for their future.

Or at least that was the justification she was using for practically throwing Lily to the wolves, or in this instance—James Potter.

Just before she boarded the train, she swore her eyes had connected with a pair of stormy grey ones—it was only for a flash, but those eyes were painfully familiar to a pair of grey ones from _her_ past.

She just hoped she'd be ready soon.

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After a slight struggle, Hermione managed to put both the trunks in an empty compartment and then made sure Pandora's cage was safely secured on of the hooks. Releasing a sigh at a job well done, she then promptly fell onto the seat.

The platform was now relatively less crowded, the mass of people now dispersing—students entering the train and only the parents standing idly by. Hermione turned her head as the crowd of parents started waving frantically to their children as the train blew its last warning whistle and started moving. Just because she had come to a relative peace with the fact that she had no parents, didn't mean she still didn't feel longing.

A few moments later, Lily poked her head into the compartment, relief flooding her face as her eyes landed on Hermione. Opening the sliding glass door fully, she entered with a swish of her long hair with another girl unfamiliar to Hermione following behind her.

"Thank God I found you, I had to go look at most of the compartments saying I was doing patrols trying to find you. Thankfully, they believed me." Lily said dryly.

Hermione smiled. "I'm sure they believed you because of the lie and not because of fear, Lily."

Lily narrowed her eyes in mock suspicion, "I'm not sure if you're sincere or if you're sarcastic," then her eyes widened in remembrance and swiftly smacked Hermione on the arm.

"Ow, what was that for?" Hermione said, indignant.

"That was for leaving me alone out there with Potter!" Lily exclaimed, flailing her arms a bit.

"Oh." Hermione said sheepishly before her eyes landed on the other girl who was watching them a bit awkwardly. Lily noticed her distraction and then quickly introduced them.

"Oh, sorry. Forgot you didn't know each other. Anyway, Gwen, this is Hermione, my cousin and Hermione, this is Gwendelyn Rowle, one of my best friends and a fellow gryffindor."

"It's very nice to meet you. Lily's been chattering on about you from the moment I met up with her." Gwendelyn said, mirth shining on her face.

"I wasn't chattering on and on about her…" Lily pouted.

"Yes you were, darling. Don't deny it."

"It's very nice to meet you to, Gwendelyn." Hermione smiled back.

"Call me Gwen. Gwedelyn is way too long and…old sounding." She shuddered, "Why my parents _had_ to name me that, I'll never know!"

"Probably to punish you for the future because they knew they couldn't get to you then?" Lily offered mildly with a smirk. She received a mock growl for that statement.

Gwendelyn Rowle was a dreamer, Hermione immediately noticed. She was a pale brunette with hair darker than Hermione's, with expressive far away chocolate brown eyes and there was always a smile on her face. But though she looked sweet and innocent, she had a sharp tongue and always preferred the blunt way of speaking, something that Hermione immediately liked. Though she was sure she had never heard of or seen this person in her life, she looked a touch familiar to someone in her past, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Whatever. Where's Marlene anyway?"

Hermione froze again. Marlene Mckinnon?

"Well speak of the devil and the devil appears." Lily murmured to Hermione with a smirk.

"'Ello darlings!" the door slid open again not-so-quietly to see a short girl with long blonde locks, wide blue eyes and a smirk on her face, panting exaggeratingly. "I've finally found you, thank Merlin. I've been running to each and every compartment in search of you bloody people."

"What took you so long, other than running around? It wouldn't take this long, for sure…" Gwen asked with her hand on her hip, not believing anything the short witch was saying.

The blonde shot a wounded look at her, "Oh ye of little faith, why do you question me so, dearest Gwen?"

Lily snorted. "Er, maybe because we know you're lying, Marls?"

"Not you too, Lils!" she whined, but then her lips curved up to a smirk, "fine!...But one simply _cannot_ help being distracted when Sirius Black is the one doing the distracting."

Gwen and Lily scowled and groaned in disgust while Hermione got a jolt when she heard Sirius's name. Right then, dark blue eyes fell on Hermione's form.

"Well, who's this? I don't believe we've ever met before. _Lily, Gwen_!" Marlene shouted in a scandalized tone, though the underlining teasing could be heard, "how could you let me go on and on without introducing me with a new witch first? What kind of friends _are_ you?"

Lily hurriedly stood up again, mumbling about why she always forgot introductions. Hermione would've thought Marlene was honestly irate at the redhead and the brunette if not for the sly wink she sent her way. Hermione started to smile widely; her antics were certainly…entertaining to say the least.

"Hermione, Marlene Mckinnon, also Gryffindor. Marlene, this is Hermione Granger, my cousin and new transfer to Hogwarts." She said in one breath.

Marlene looked at Hermione appraisingly. "A transfer? That doesn't happen usually. You must've pulled a lot of strings with old Dumbie to get in then." Suddenly she laughed as she flopped down, "anyone who can get one up over that old man is alright by me. Nice to meet ya, Hermione!"

Hermione laughed at that. "Trust me, it wasn't that hard." She replied back jokingly.

"And she has an attitude too!" Marlene called out cheerfully and then looked at Hermione straight in the eyes with a smile, "you and I are gonna be great friends, 'Mione."

Hermione beamed in response.

"Aww, what a heartwarming moment!" Gwen called out with wide eyes, "…Group hug?"

"No." an instant retort came from both Lily and Marlene. Gwen pouted.

"Why the sudden reaction?" Hermione asked, glancing at both Marlene and Lily in confusion.

Gwen scoffed and flicked her straight hair away from her face. "They're just stubborn gits. It's nothing! So, how 'bout a hug, Hermione? For the start of our new friendship? And to prove these hippogriffs wrong?"

Hermione shrugged, she saw nothing wrong with that. So, she leaned over to Gwen—

She felt her eyes widen as she felt all the air being ripped out of her in just a second. Were her bones being crushed? She didn't know. She just knew she was being squished by a monster! Forcefully pushing away her arms, she retreated back to her chair, wheezing.

"I..think we'll, er….just stick to handshakes from now…" she wheezed out slowly. She was sure at least one of her ribs was bruised.

Lily and Marlene were both cracking up, falling over each other as they laughed. Gwen pouted as she crossed her arms and looked at the side, ignoring the two laughing buffoons who were now wheezing due to their uncontrolled moronic laughter.

Gwen's straight face twitched as she tried to contain his amusement. Hermione saw the twitch, and couldn't suppress a tiny snort of laughter. Within seconds, both of them had burst out laughing along with the other two. For Hermione, the release of the tensions of the day caused the laughter to redouble on itself – and seeing all the others helpless with laughter caused each of them to laugh all the harder.

And that's how Hermione bonded with the three girls who would come to be three of her most precious people.

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**End notes- **uhh, review please? Thank you!


	5. Of a Sorting and Marauders

**Disclaimer**-I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or any of the things from _that_ world. I simply own the plot. The sorting hat song is **Snape's Headmaster Year/DH year****: godrics_gopher**

**Pairings-** Hermione Granger/Sirius Black, Lily Evans/James Potter

**Rating-** T

**Note- **Some of the tips I used for time-travelling is from other fan fictions, such as _Flying High_ by _show me the stars_. Another reference I used I'd is _The Thief of Time_ by _Tinkwolfe_. I love both these stories a lot as these were the first SB/HG time fan fictions I'd read.

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**The Revisionist**

Chapter 5:_ Of a Sorting and the Marauders_

By

**fourthfireshadow**

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Soon, they reached the train station and headed towards the lake, where Hagrid was standing with a large lantern as he had all for all those years...

"Firs' years over here! Firs' years over here!" his booming voice traveled over the crowds of people, as tiny first years stumbled over gaping at the half-giant. Hermione found it quite amusing how the small first years were gapping at the half-giant. She vaguely remembered she was a first year herself now, technically. Confused if she should follow Lily or if she should go with the first years, she looked at the redhead for guidance.

Lily looked as confused as she did. "I'm not sure whether you're supposed to come with us or if you should go with the first years."

Gwen spoke up. "I think you should go with Hagrid for now, 'Mione. You are technically a newbie, and McGonagall'll show all the ropes."

Lily looked at Hermione regretfully. "Don't worry though. After the sorting, we'll be together again. It's just a matter of a few minutes after all."

Marlene snorted. "Yeah, but you'll be the only teenager between a gaggle of children. You'll stick out like a sore thumb—ow!" she yelped in between, glaring at Lily before continuing, "…but _as_ I was saying, don't worry much. We'll save you a seat at the table. _If_ you're in Gryffindor of course. I mean, if you end up in Hufflepuff, or god forbid _Slytherin_—ow! Bloody hell woman!"

"What she meant was Good luck." Lily finished with a glare at the blonde's direction.

"Thanks." Hermione said weakly before turning to where the half-giant was. She looked back once more in hesitation but at Lily's shooing motion; she turned back and walked to her past friend. She smiled lightly in remembrance, when was the last time she saw the lovable giant? She couldn't properly remember; all she cared about was the tingling sensation of relief pouring over her. Was this how Harry felt whenever he saw Hagrid again after holidays? His first friend from the Wizarding World? She could only wonder.

"Firs'years over here! Only firs'years here, miss, you shou'be with yer other mates!" Hagrid said in his scratchy voice.

"Oh, well, this is technically my first year in Hogwarts, so…" Hermione trailed off, not knowing how to explain the situation. Thankfully, Hagrid knew who she was.

"Oh! You mus'be Hermione Granger! Dumbledore'ad said sumthin' bout a new student! It's good t'meet you!" he nodded to her cheerfully, as Hermione smiled back. "Well, I guess you shou'follow me too, then."

"An'more firs' years? Alrigh' then. C'mon, follow me!" he led them down a slippery and steep bath. Many dark trees surrounded them, so it was very hard to see what was located where. First years stepped on each other's feet, stumbled and a couple ever fell. Hermione followed the gaggle of kids, careful herself. After all, it had been years before she had travelled down this path again. It was a little strange to think that all these children were technically older than her.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a bit," Hagrid called to them over his shoulder, his lamp nearly as a beacon of light, leading the children on. "jus' 'round 'ere!"

The beautiful sight of the Hogwarts appeared, as they left the thick green trees. The Black Lake reflected all the light of the castle, which was perched on a high mountain. The windows were sparkling with light, as the gleaming stars illuminated it, making it seem grander and even more splendid.

There was a loud 'Oooooh!' from the first years who were gawking at the humongous castle. Hermione gazed back at the castle forlornly. The last time she had been in the castle, it was reduced to rubble.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid directed them, as they reached the boats sitting and waiting for them on the rocky shore of the lake. " 'Mione, I think it's best if'you sit with jus'two."

Hermione nodded and carefully slipped into one of the wooden boats, quickly holding the sides with her hands when she felt it starting to tilt. This felt way more dangerous than when she was a child somehow. When she saw two timid first years looking for a boat to sit in, Hermione caught their wide eyes and moved her hands, indicating the boat. Their eyes lit up and they quickly scurried to the boat and looked at each other eagerly once they settled in.

"Everyone in?" Hagrid shouted, after getting into his personal boat, because he could've easily taken the weight of at least three first years. "Right then – FORWARD!"

Each one of the boats pushed off of the shore and glided over the dark Black Lake. Everyone peered into the water, trying to get a glimpse of what was underneath, but then were fully distracted by the glowing castle, drawing them like moths to light. Hermione eyed the lake carefully, remembering her fourth year, when she had a pleasant plunge in it.

"Heads down!" Hagrid yelled, as the small fleet of boats headed towards a cliff. All the children, who were no more than eleven year olds bent their heads, but Hermione had to practically curl up into herself to avoid being hit.

After finally reaching the end of the tunnel and out onto shore, all the children quickly scuttled out. Hermione helped the two children who were with her in the boat, whose names she found out were Matilda Kendra- a muggle-born, and Elric Brown- a pure-blood, out of it before she carefully stepped out of the tilting boat. She smiled at the two kids waiting for her before stepping to where Professor McGonagall was waiting for all the children.

Hermione was a little horrified to feel the slight stinging behind her eyes as she gazed at her favorite professor, but she still couldn't help the slight smile on her face.

Professor McGonagall still looked like the same teacher they left back in 1998, only much younger looking. She wore emerald green robes, had her hair pulled back in a tight pun, her face wearing an un-amused smile, probably mentally hoping that there won't be too many trouble-makers in this litter, because the Marauders were enough on her mind. She started on her speech, which she undertook every year.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, in a few moments you will pass through these doors and join your classmates, but before you take your seats, you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Now while you're here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points. Any rule breaking and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup. "

Hermione smiled in slight amusement. It was exactly the same.

"Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall called out. Startled, she looked at the Professor in confusion.

"If you would come with me, please. Professor Dumbledore would like to see you before you proceed to the Great Hall." As she said it, McGonagall peered at her pointedly, and at that moment she realized McGonagall _knew_.

"O-of course, professor." Hermione stuttered before giving a small smile to the two first years peering at her in confusion and followed the brisk footsteps of the professor, ignoring the outbreak of whispers from the group.

"Hurry along, Miss Granger. It would be best done quickly, so that the sorting of the first years can be done faster."

"If I may professor, why does professor Dumbledore need to see me?" Hermione inquired.

"For your sorting, dear girl. He wanted to finish yours first. He reckoned it'd be a wee bit strange for a girl as old as you to have a sorting among small children, and I was inclined to agree. Don't you?" McGonagall said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Hermione flushed a bit, thinking how awkward it really would've been to have a sorting like that.

"Here we are. Acid Pops." McGonagall muttered the password at the guarding gargoyle. The twisting staircase to the principal's office never ceased to amaze her. As she and professor McGonagall ascended the stairs, she saw professor Dumbledore looking directly at her with a slight smile.

"Ah, Miss Granger. I trust your journey was well?"

"Yes, it was, professor." Hermione replied.

"Splendid! As you may have already realized, I have told about our current situation to Minerva here. I hope I was not out of bounds to do so." He said.

Hermione shook her head. "I have no problem with it, sir. After all, professor McGonagall was my favorite professor during my time at Hogwarts. Of course I trust her." She said, sending a smile to the older witch who gazed at her in a sort of bewilderment and awe, but Hermione could see the sadness lingering in her eyes. So much so, that she had to look away.

Dumbledore just sent another one of his cryptic knowing smiles in her way.

"Now, our next order of business; your sorting. I trust you're familiar with this old object?" he said, showing her the old worn down wizard hat.

"Of course."

"If you'd please take a seat here, we'll proceed with your sorting and be on our way."

Complying, Hermione gingerly sat down on the stool provided before she felt the familiar weight of the old sorting hat on her head. She never did like someone or some_thing_ reading her thoughts. The sorting hat was one thing that could read and see whatever it wanted to in someone's mind. Barriers never worked with it. So, it made Hermione all the more uncomfortable.

However, there was no doubt that she'd be anywhere _but_ Gryffindor.

'…_so sure of this fact, now are you?'_

Hermione did not even flinch when she heard the old weary voice in her head. She'd been expecting it after all.

'_A time traveler? Whose intention was not to travel back, is it? Quite a sticky situation you're in, dear girl. But still…you plan to make the most of your opportunity. Hmmm…'_

'With all due respect, sorting hat, I think you already know where I belong. So I'd appreciate it if you'd stop flipping through my memories now. Make haste and all that.'

'_Yes, yes. I know this makes you uncomfortable. Very well. You do have an abundance of bravery and courage. Otherwise, you wouldn't be standing upright, quite sane right now. Where else to put you but in—'_

"—Gryffindor!" the sorting hat boomed from atop her head. A moment later, the sorting hat was picked up from her head and she met the proud gazes of Dumbledore and surprisingly, professor McGonagall.

"I'd been hoping you would end in Gryffindor. Of course, I knew you would be, seeing the expanse of bravery you possess, right from our first meeting, but I still hoped." Dumbledore said with a mischievous twinkle in his blue eyes. "Your house mistress is Minerva herself, so if you have any problems, you can address it directly to her."

Hermione nodded.

"Now, I think we've kept our students waiting long enough, don't you? We do have others to sort, after all."

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"What the hell's taking so long? I'm starved over here!" James Potter cried out in irritation, his lower lip jutting out slightly.

"Relax, Prongs. It's just been a few minutes. But you _are_ right…where is Dumbledore anyway? He's never late for the opening feast." Sirius Black said, frowning thoughtfully.

"I don't _care _if it's only been a few minutes! I need food! I'm a growing boy!" he snapped.

Remus Lupin rolled his eyes at that. "Oh, shove it. You're just upset Lily rebuked your advances. Again."

Sirius snickered. "And pathetic advances, at that. How was it this time, Moony? _Oh, sweet Lily-flower—"_

"—_will you please go out with me? I'll do anything!—"Remus_ sang along.

"Even make the stars sing your _name from the heavens_!" Sirius and Remus, along with Peter chimed together before falling into fits of laughter. "That was the corniest line ever!"

"And, by the way, how would you even achieve that, may I ask? You're rubbish in Charms." Remus asked with a small amused smirk.

James' face reddened slightly before he sneered and said, "No, you may not _ask. _i don't even know why I hang out with you lot. You're rubbish for support, the lot of you!"

"Well, that's because you love us and you're stuck with us, Prongs." Sirius teased with a wink at his derisive scoff. "Though I have to point out that _that_ may have been you're fastest rejection yet. Why, you'd barely started before she ran away, not that I'd blame her with _that_ line," Sirius sighed and looked away, glancing at James from the corner of his eyes, "I'd say you're losing your touch."

"I agree. Look James, you've scared them all away. All the girls are now sitting far away from us." Remus said, looking at the group of sixth-year girls sitting right at the corner.

Sirius also looked in the same direction and smirked in amusement when James refused to look in that direction. He knew _that_ would only last for a few minutes before he starts staring intensely at the redhead. Speaking of the redhead, Sirius saw her gesturing wildly to her friends and glaring in their general direction, as per usual during the opening feast. He chuckled, sharing a look with Remus.

Just then, his attention went to the loud squeals that came from the end of the table where the girls were sitting. He observed as Lily squealed the loudest as she enveloped the girl who just appeared in a big bear hug before pulling her down to sit. The new girl was sitting with the rest of the sixth-year girls but he would've sworn he's never seen her around before now. He couldn't make out her face very well; her long wavy auburn hair was shielding it from him.

Furrowing his brows, he turned to his mates, "hey, who's the new girl? I don't think she was here before and I'm not _that_ shallow, I would've noticed before now, wouldn't I?"

"I don't know. You _do_ have the attention span of a goldfish." Remus deadpanned ignoring his outraged gasp, but he too turned to look at the group and frowned thoughtfully, "but you are right. I haven't seen her before."

"I know. What's she done to be so close with Lily so fast? "James piped in, his head now resting in his hands, scowling. "Maybe she's the girl my dad was talking about. A new transfer student from…Aus—umm…somewhere." He stuttered, his eyes rolling upwards as he struggled to remember the name of the place.

"_Please _don't hurt yourself." Sirius drawled, rolling his grey eyes before looking at the mystery girl again.

"But how come she's so close with Lily? Did you see her squeal? I've never seen her so ecstatic since I fell into the Black Lake that one time in third year…" James said, frowning as he said the last bit. Would it _kill_ her to show some kindness to him?

"b-but, since when does Hogwarts accept students so late anyway?" Peter finally spoke, attracting the attention of the other three marauders.

"Actually, I've never heard about this either. It is rather peculiar, isn't it? Accepting a student so late, no matter if she's a transfer or not?" Remus also thought aloud.

James rolled his eyes before slapping Remus in the back hard, causing the young werewolf to bend forward, the breath knocked out of him. "Aw, snap out of it, Moony! Don't go all _professor_ on us _now!_ We'll figure it out later. For now, I just want _food."_

"I don't think you have to wait much longer, Prongs." Peter said, pointing one chubby finger at the front of the Great Hall where Dumbledore finally stood in all his powerful glory.

James rolled his eyes in exasperation, "there's _still _the sorting left, though!"

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Hermione looked around in nostalgia. The Great Hall looked as magnificent as ever in its beauty and luxury. The ceiling was once again bewitched to look like the night sky, filled with spots of bright stars, and she choked back a laugh as she remembered her reaction to this same ceiling in her first year.

"It's not real, the ceiling," said Lily pointing up at it, "it's just bewitched to look like the night sky. You can read about it in _Hogwarts, A History_."

Hermione had to stifle another laugh. The _same_ reaction.

She was glad she already knew most of the girls in this year, or else it would've been terribly lonely. She had received a warm welcome from all the girls, most especially by Lily herself when she found out Hermione was in Gryffindor herself, pulling her into a large hug before pulling her down to introduce her to the other year-mates.

So far, she's met Mary McDonald, a tall girl with dirty blonde shoulder length hair and green eyes, a shade darker than Lily's, with freckles covering the bridge of her nose, giving her a sweet appearance. She was in Hufflepuff, just sitting with the Gryffindor girls until Dumbledore arrived.

She'd heard about Mary McDonald of course. A member of the Order who dies a tragic death at the hands of death eaters. Though she couldn't really remember the specific details. She was a bit surprised to find out Mary was a muggle-born—she hadn't known that before.

The other girl that mad up the group of Gryffindor sixth-year girls was Alice Prewett, the one and only. Hermione had been uttered speechless for one moment when she shook the girl's hand. This was Neville's mother, in the flesh, still sane and clueless about her tragic future.

She could see a bit of Neville in Alice's face; the nose and the eyes particularly. And the hair. But she surmised most of his physical traits must've been passed on from his dad. Alice was very kind, she noted, and quieter than her Gryffindor counterparts, only speaking when necessary in a quiet tone, quite like Neville in a way.

She looked around the Slytherin table before she found who she was looking for—Severus Snape. He was looking at her too, a look of confusion passing over his face, before his eyes dulled in disappointment for just a small moment when a cool look of indifference came over. He nodded in acknowledgement before turning away. Hermione shook her head, annoyed at his reaction for some reason.

She turned her head to the side and her eyes fell on the most infamous group from this era. The Marauders. It was them, she was sure of it. Plus, they were kind of hard to miss; they just excluded this _aura_ that made them stand out, no matter how mundane their activities were. Also, Lily occasionally glared in that direction for no utter reason. Or maybe there _was_ a reason and she'd just missed it.

Just when she saw a flash of striking grey turn to her direction, she quickly looked down, letting her long hair shield her face. She carefully avoided looking in their direction after that. No need to make a fool of herself even before they were introduced to each other, she reckoned.

"Look, the sorting's about to start, Hermione." Alice whispered to her. Hermione looked right at the moment the old sorting hat began to sing.

_Again, we're gathered here beneath  
This great, enchanted ceiling  
There's thunder, lightning, heavy rain  
That none of us are feeling_

_My task this year, as years before,_  
_Is choosing your rightful place_  
_To help you conquer and endure_  
_The tasks you're soon to face_

_The Hogwarts founders, long ago,_  
_Trusted me with this task_  
_Though now I think it may've been_  
_Somewhat unwise to ask_

_I fear this may be the last time_  
_I can so frankly speak_  
_For there are those among us all_  
_That hope for our defeat_

_And so, before I sort you,_  
_My other task is clear_  
_To say the words that Dumbledore_  
_And I feel you must hear_

_Ravenclaw have shown us_  
_Any problem can be solved_  
_While Slytherin has long defined_  
_The advantage of resolve_

_Gryffindors know well that fear's_  
_Nothing to be afraid of_  
_And Hufflepuffs know just as well_  
_What true kindness is made of_

_A thousand years these houses stand_  
_On these few strengths alone_  
_But great minds and hats think alike_  
_Weakness is what we've shown_

_The unity of our four houses_  
_Hangs by just a tether_  
_True greatness, power and victory_  
_We only achieve together_

Hermione's eyes widened faintly as she heard the last verse just as whispers broke out in the Great Hall. Was it just her, or did that song sound a little ominous?

"What was that all about? Unity hangs just by a tether?" Lily questioned, worry shining in her eyes and for a moment, her eyes connected with Hermione's.

"Bah! Forget about the old thing! It says rubbish most of the time anyway. Why're you getting all out o'sorts just for that?" Marlene asked, blowing out her cheeks in annoyance.

Lily just shook her head weakly, "…never mind."

Hermione looked away before Lily could look at her again. She didn't want to admit it, but she was a little worried about that last verse too. After all, from all her experiences, she knew the sorting hat always hints at the upcoming events in its own subtle way. But it's just so cryptic!

So caught up in her thoughts, she partly missed the beginning of the sorting. Already three children had been called up to be sorted in Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

"Aren't you glad Dumbledore decided to have you a private sorting, 'Mione? It would've been right awkward, at least for me!" Marlene exclaimed, a smirk growing.

Hermione nodded, agreeing. She never did like attention much, even if she got a lot of it. To have a room such as large as this full of students staring at you and you only, it would be a nightmare, honestly.

She clapped and cheered with the rest of them when Matilda Kendra was sorted into Gryffindor, her face beaming and also cheered when Elric Brown was sorted into Hufflepuff. Soon, the sorting of the first-years was over and everyone was highly anticipating the beginning of the feast.

Finally, Albus Dumbledore got up to his feet and started speaking. "Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts, to both our seventh year students down to our first year students! Before we begin our feast, which I am sure everyone is looking forward to, I would like to remind you that this year our Head Boy and Head Girl are from the house of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw respectively – Frank Longbottom and Morgana Parkinson."

Both the Heads stood up in their respective House tables as the Hall cheered. Hermione hadn't heard of the Ravenclaw head before but did briefly wonder if the blonde haired, brown eyed Ravenclaw was somehow related to Pansy Parkinson. Seeing her modest smile, somehow she doubted it.

She also got her first look at Frank Longbottom. He was a tall bloke, with neatly combed raven hair and a round face. She also noticed Neville's signature ears on him. She finally broke into a smile when she saw the furious blush on Alice's pale cheeks as she clapped and cheered with zest. It seemed like their romance had already begun.

"Take heed that the forest is perilous, and is therefore prohibited to all pupils"—he shot a pointed look at the Gryffindor table, and she had a clear idea for who the look was for—"We also have a new Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Please welcome Professor Gwaine."

A tall teacher with intense onyx eyes and a kind smile stood up for a moment before sitting down again as the cheers died down.

"Before we begin, I would also like to welcome Miss Hermione Granger into our school. She's a transfer student from Australia who was privately sorted into Gryffindor House. Now that all introductions and pleasantries are over, Tuck in!" he said jovially before sitting down.

Hermione flushed bright red and tried to shrink into herself as she felt all eyes in the hall turn solely to her. She could feel the stares of her house mates and saw Lily looking at her in sympathy. Somehow that was even worse. She felt like a deer in headlights. Oh _Dear Merlin_.

"_Well._ I think I spoke too soon about it being awkward, didn't I?" Marlene commented off-handedly.

Hermione closed her eyes in mortification.

This positively _was_ her worst nightmare.

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* * *

"That was humiliating." Hermione muttered once again as Lily laughed.

"Oh it wasn't that bad, honestly." Lily said, looking on amusedly as Hermione paced in their dorm room.

"Lils is right, Hermione. It wasn't bad, it was actually bet—"Gwen stopped on seeing the glare Hermione sent her way, "—erm, I said nothing. Nothing at all."

Marlene snorted. "Smooth, Gwen. And anyway Hermione, stop your pacing! It's making me dizzy! I mean, yes, it was humiliating and _yes_, you were embarrassed thoroughly and _yes,_ _everyone _was staring at you _but_ what's done is done!"

Marlene put up her best 'innocent' face when Hermione turned her glare to her.

"Smooth, Marls." Gwen mocked.

Rolling her eyes at the so called encouragement, Hermione plopped down on her bed clumsily, the one next to Lily's and right by the window, not even caring if she looked silly.

"I just hate it when people stare at me like that." She murmured.

Lily smiled sympathetically. "While Marlene may have no tact or subtlety—"

"Hey! I resent that. I have great tact!"

"Yeah. Tact of a hippo." Gwen mumbled.

"—she does have a point. It's all over now. Try to forget it."

"Yeah. Professor Dumbledore really has no clue sometimes." Alice said from her bed, "but if this happened to the Marauders, rest assured they'd be soaking up all the attention that you positively don't want."

"Oh yeah! Especially Potter and Black." Marlene said, laughing loudly.

"Of course, you'd know whatever Black would do, don't you Marls?" Gwen teased.

"And just what are you insinuating?

"Hold on, hold _on_! Why does most of our conversation always revolve around _Potter _and his crew, may I ask?" Lily cried out in frustration.

Hermione just observed this outrageous conversation between her dorm mates with a smile on her face. She was content to just lie there and soak up all the positivity. Lord knows this won't last, not at all. She never wanted this atmosphere going away, though. This easiness, the bantering and the teasing. She already knew three of the occupants of this room were going to meet a premature death. And while she was thankful she had this knowledge, she also realized this was a curse.

Surely she was going to get closer to all of them during her time here. Friendships are going to be forged, bonds formed, and if anything happened to any one of them because of the war she is inevitably going to bring closer, she knew she would never forgive herself.

For now, she'd leave these thoughts in the back of her mind. But she knew, the time would be soon for her to act.

But for now, she just wanted to be in the moment.

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* * *

"Hermione, wake up!" Lily's voice screeched from her side.

Groaning loudly, Hermione rolled to the side, squinting one eye open from the safe huddle that was her blanket. Both her eyes opened at the sight of a clearly frazzled Lily Evans.

"W..hat?"

"_Get. Up._" Lily enunciated before pulling on Hermione's duvet aggressively. Hermione shivered while goose bumps erupted on her legs from the sudden cold and rolled her eyes upward in exasperation and groaned at the loss of the comfortable warmth. As she attempted to turn over and close her sleepy eyes again, she felt a sudden smack on her bushy head.

"Ow! Bloody hell, woman!" why the heck couldn't the redhead let her _sleep?_

"Hermione! We're late for our first class!" Lily finally snapped.

At that, Hermione's eyes snapped open as she bolted upwards, knowing she clearly looked ridiculous right now, but that was overruled in her mind by the sheer panic creeping in. she was _never_ late. It's a fact. And in this era, she was late on the _first day?_

"_What?_" Hermione yelped, and not knowing what else to do, she smacked Lily's arm in frustration. "Why didn't you just lead with that?!"

Lily simply rolled her green eyes in annoyance and promptly started pushing the brunette to the dorm bathroom. "_Right_. Will you just start getting ready? Merlin knows you'd need more time for your hair than anything else, and right now we only have about fifteen minutes. We've already missed breakfast and—"

"Where are the others, by the way?" Hermione inquired, just allowing Lily to push her. Saves her less energy, doesn't it?

"They all left!" Lily said, irritated, "and they couldn't even wake us up. Annoying lot."

Once in the bathroom, she cringed as she saw her reflection in the humongous mirror on the wall. Pale skin, crusty half closed eyes and curly tangled hair. She began to get ready in record time; taking a shower of three minutes to brushing her teeth and then finally dressing herself into the Gryffindor uniform.

"Hurry up, 'Mione! We only have five minutes to spare and our first period is McGonagall!" Lily said, her green eyes wide in worry. Somehow, Hermione knew her own face mirrored that expression. Quickly pulling her light brown hair into a loosed bun in the base of her neck, grabbed her books and quickly rushed out of the common room through the portrait with Lily in tow, their robes billowing.

Hermione ignored the Fat Lady's disapproving face and kept on pulling Lily straight until she felt Lily giving a tug.

"No, this way! that's the wrong way to the Transfiguration classroom." Lily said and then she started to pull Hermione behind her. Hermione followed quickly, mentally hitting herself. She was subconsciously following the old, easier path to the classroom; she forgot to realize that she wasn't supposed to know that! How strange would it be if a new exchange student knew about secret passages and routes that even the old students didn't know about?

She thanked her luck Lily didn't suspect anything; she probably just thought Hermione was hurrying in her haste. Quickening up her pace, she blew away the irritating tendrils of hair that were already escaping her bun.

Suddenly she came upon the familiar corridor to reach the classroom. They eventually slowed down their pace to a walk as they reached it. Lily was taking in deep breaths while her face relaxed to a small smile.

"Well, look at that. Half a minute to spare." Lily said, pleased. Hermione just smiled and opened the old wooden door to enter.

Professor McGonagall was already there, standing in front of the table. The whole classroom looked to be talking. Fortunately, most the class was busy with whatever they were doing to realize their appearance. Her face turned when the door opened. She gestured to the girls to get in.

"Please don't make it a habit to come late, Miss Granger. And as for you, Miss Evans, I must say I am a little surprised that you're late as well. However," she peered at then from her spectacles, her eyes looking at them pointedly, "as you are a _new_ student and it is the first day of classes, I will let this slip."

Lily looked ready to whimper, the way her face wilted in disappointment at the chiding. Obviously, Lily hated getting any type of scolding, no matter if they were as small as this one.

"But Professor, we arrived with half a minute to spare." Hermione said, surprising herself and Lily a little. She had never talked back to teachers like this, had she?

McGonagall's face remained the same but she swore her pursed lips twitched just the slightest. "Regardless, Miss Granger. Now go take your seats."

Nodding their heads, they went to find their seats. That's when she realized this class was a mix of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. Thankfully no one had particularly paid attention to their small conversation but many curious eyes did turn at Hermione. Just wishing to get this over with—she never liked being self-conscious—she just sat down on the seat in the second last row. At least that way, no one from the front could turn to stare at her, unless they wanted to be caught by professor McGonagall.

She relaxed the tiniest bit from her tensed frame when she saw the reassuring smile from Lily in the front, who was sitting with Dorcas Meadows, but then Lily suddenly frowned for some reason she didn't understand. Marlene turned her head back and mouthed _lucky_ to Hermione. She frowned in confusion, why would she be lucky?

She tried to shake of the self-conscious feeling from her limbs as she placed the fresh sheets of parchment, her ink bottle and her eagle feather quill on her desk in an organized manner.

This was ridiculous! Truly. She was Hermione Granger, The Brightest Witch of Her Age, Mudblood Extraordinaire—her mere presence used to attract stares from all around her, but now? Now, she was scared to even meet any one of these people's eyes.

Well enough was enough. She had to grow a diamond spine if she wanted to survive in this time-line; that much she knew. She sat up straighter, lifted her head a bit more and tried to instill a little bit more of that fake confidence in herself before turning to the person sitting right next to her.

Too bad she didn't realize just _who_ she was sitting with herself.

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* * *

"So, what's our plan for today?" James asked from the desk he sat on, his face serious, "is it a dungbomb fiasco today? Or do you want to annoy the snakes today? I really think we should. It's been too long, I reckon. They'll start to think we've forgotten about them or something."

"Yeah, I don't know about that," Sirius mused from his seat, his legs lazily propped on the seat next to him. "I mean, wouldn't it be a whole lot of fun to let them _think_ we've forgotten about them and _then_ attack them? Let them drop their guards a bit."

"Hmm. Interesting point, padfoot. We need to look into that at headquarters tonight."

"Yessir—oh wait. Can't do tonight. I've got a date." Sirius smirked as his eyes wandered to the pretty girl in the fourth row—Jennifer Smith, sixth year Ravenclaw and winked, making the girl blush prettily and look away.

James scoffed indignantly while Peter asked, "with whom?"

"I'm actually surprised you found someone to ask out. After all, you've dated more than half the school. The only ones left are third years and younger." Remus sighed as he shook his head in disappointment.

"Yeah, and if you actually asked out one of them, then you're just _sick." _James said, mock-gagging at the thought. Sirius hit him over the head, making James almost lose his glasses.

"Don't forget the new girl though." Peter said from his seat beside Remus, "she's one person who you haven't asked out yet."

Sirius rolled his grey eyes but didn't falter, "Give it time, wormtail. She's only arrived yesterday. And besides, I haven't gone out with every girl. Don't exaggerate."

That just made all three of them look pointedly at him.

"What?" Sirius shrugged, "it's true! I haven't."

"Oh _really_? Name one girl you haven't even tried to ask out yet." James challenged, leaning into Sirius's personal space as he glared mockingly through his glasses.

"Mate, I'm pretty sure this scene just looks different to the rest of our class, and not that I mind, but I'm pretty sure it'd hurt my reputation. Yours too, I reckon." Sirius said nonchalantly as James reeled back in disgust and glared at anyone who was staring.

"And as for your question; Miss Evans. I haven't asked her out at all." Peter snickered when James let out a huge pity worthy sigh.

"Please get back to your seats now, class is about to begin." McGonagall's voice rang out clearly through the classroom. All the students slowly started to get back to their original seats. James hopped down to go to his assigned seat with Bertram Aubrey.

"And speaking of which," Remus nodded in the direction of the door.

Sirius's gaze followed in that direction to see Lily and the new girl—what was her name? Hershy? Herminy? –at the door. His eyes never strayed from them as they had a talk with McGonagall.

"I'm a little surprised Lily was almost late today." Remus's voice reached his ears but he didn't turn to acknowledge it. "Though I'm not surprised the new girl was."

"—her name was Hermione, wasn't it?" Peter said. Sirius missed most of what he said but caught the last bit.

_Hermione._

Unusual name, it was. And he thought that was the end of his curiosity. So imagine his surprise when the said girl sat down right next to him. Granted, he should've known there was a probability that she would've sat there, as that was the only one left, other than the seat right at the front.

He stopped in his actions to look at this mysterious person. He didn't think anyone knew anything about her. He unabashedly stared at her as she picked up all her items—parchment, quill, ink—and set them on her desk, all in a pristine order; the ink bottle on the left corner, the long feathered quill on the opposite right and the sheets of parchment right in her front.

He raised one dark eyebrow at that quirk and studied her as she looked resolutely straight. She had a nice profile, Sirius noticed straight away; a straight nose, sharp dark eyebrows, long eye lashes and full lips. She had freckles too, along the bridge of her nose. Her auburn hair was very wavy, with soft wisps escaping her hastily tied bun, falling on her face.

She was _very_ pretty, he realized with a jolt.

But he also noticed the tenseness in her frame, the edginess in her movements, and the uneasiness in her posture. He tilted his head a bit as her body suddenly relaxed marginally. He looked to where this Hermione was looking and saw the frown of the redhead of James's dreams. Sirius just rolled his blue-grey eyes and looked back at his partner—that was a common occurrence between them.

He really hoped no one was looking at him right now; he was just _staring_ at this girl. It was a bit of a strange behavior, even for him.

But then she turned to him and his own eyes widened when hers did.

Her eyes were a brilliant shade of honey, he realized again.

But then he straightened his composure and grinned charmingly, ready to introduce himself. He always did love acquainting with others. Occasionally. Especially with pretty girls.

That's when he noticed the girl's rigid frame as his smile faltered. She was completely still, as if she had been petrified or something. Her spine was ram-rod straight as she stared at him with something akin to shock and awe in her wide startled honey eyes and all the blood drained from her face.

Now, normally Sirius would be flattered and enjoying someone looking at him in awe, but this awe was something different. This wasn't a _I-wish-I-was-as-brilliant-as-him_ kind of awe, this was a _I-can't-believe-this-is-actually-happening_ kind of awe. Something he was not at all used to. It was a bit bizarre.

He could feel himself getting flustered at the unwavering stare and pushed back the raven locks falling on his forehead almost nervously.

"Er, are you all right?"

That seemed to snap her out of her daze as she jolted, her eyes blinking fast as she looked down and shook her head, almost imperceptibly. All this happened in just a span of one minute.

He peered at her in uneasiness and just shrugged when James threw him a questioning look from his seat. He didn't know what happened. Right then, the girl looked at him again, though she looked more relaxed than before. Her eyes were warm now, not filled with whatever it was before.

"I-I'm sorry about that," she began uncertainly, "…sometimes I have a small panic attack whenever I meet someone new."

His eyebrow lifted at that but then smiled gently. He saw that a little bit of uncertainty and doubt still lingered in her eyes and for some odd unexplainable reason, he wanted to clear them away. He had no idea why he cared at all.

"You don't have to apologize," he said, "My name's Sirius Black, a Gryffindor." but then he felt like hitting himself; _of course_ she could already see he was a Gryffindor, his uniform _was_ red and gold. _Idiot_, he thought to himself.

Thankfully, she either didn't notice the slip or she was polite enough to slide past it. She tentatively smiled at him and he could feel himself smiling back, she just looked so gentle with that expression. What was _wrong_ with him?

"My name's Hermione Granger. Also a Gryffindor," she introduced with a small teasing smile–Sirius covered a wince; so she _did _notice.

Moving past that, he hastily decided to ask her something else. "So, where are you from, originally?"

"Australia," Hermione answered, growing more and more relaxed, Sirius noted with relief, "I was home schooled there."

Sirius looked into her eyes now, something didn't add up here, "…so, then why don't you have an Australian accent?"

There was no hesitation in her answer, "I was originally from Britain. My parents moved me to Australia when I was about ten or so."

"Why move back here?" he inquired. He felt the weirdest sense to get to know this girl.

Now there was a pause, a flicker of hesitation and something else. Sirius was about to take back his question when he saw a glint of despair and something unreadable in her eyes before she looked down, but then she answered in a voice almost devoid of emotion.

"My…parents were murdered by death eaters because I'm a muggle-born…I had no other family in Australia, so my relatives here took me in."

He could feel his eyes growing wide in—disbelief, concern, fear—shock. A tense silence grew between them as he felt as if he was incapable of speech while she looked anywhere else but him. He was…_aware_ of the various bloodsheds going on in the world outside of Hogwarts, but he hadn't met anyone of the victims. At this time, these murders were few and far in between.

But he had heard that word before, he was sure. The death eaters. That was the term for the followers of Voldemort. Suddenly, he felt sick. It passed after a moment, but the feeling was still there.

An awkward, uncomfortable silence grew.

"I'm sorry."

"Nothing for you to be sorry for," she said softly, "and I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

Sirius waved away the apology but he couldn't deny the words. He _did_ feel uncomfortable. He didn't even know what to say right now. "So, Er…I hear Australia's nice this time of year?"

He closed his eyes briefly at the foolish attempt of a conversation. What was _wrong_ with him? This girl told him something personal and he's talking about _weather._ And he hated small talk!

But then her lips twisted into a small amused smirk, "I just told you something personal about me, so I hope we can skip all this pleasant talk and just dive in to the real stuff after this. I find pleasant talk awfully awkward, don't you?"

Sirius just stared.

"Please take out your parchment. Today's class will only pertain taking down notes." McGonagall's Scottish tinted voice rang out through the room and the noise of students taking their quills and parchment out, as well as some groans of the lazy ones filled the room, but Sirius vaguely heard.

This girl had managed to render him speechless more times than a single girl ever had. And even if most people would have been rendered speechless at the time she told her story, it still didn't account for the other two.

Even as he was taking down the notes in his parchment, his eyes kept on straying to the exchange girl beside him. The way she was so focused on what professor McGonagall was saying, the way she bit the end of her quill sometimes, the way some ink had spread on her pale cheek, the way—

He shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows. Just what the bloody hell was going on here?

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* * *

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End file.
